Martin plays down impact of Waterford, Donegal job losses

Employment Minister Micheál Martin has played down the potential impact of recent job losses in Waterford and Donegal.

Yesterday, a computer firm announced plans to close its plant in Waterford and lay off 30 workers at the facility, taking with it a promise to employ more than 400 extra staff in the coming years.

In Donegal, up to 60 more redundancies were announced by a fish-processing company.

"Every year, we lose jobs as well as gaining jobs. That's part of the economic cycle," Mr Martin said today.

"The challenge, of course, is to create more jobs than we lose. The trend is quite positive. I think we've weathered the economic downturn of the last number of years and we're quite hopeful that we can bring further jobs into the country."