Symantec to cut 70 jobs in Dublin

29-05-2008

by Billy MacInnes

In a bad week for technology jobs in Ireland, security software firm Symantec has announced the loss of 70 manufacturing and distribution jobs in Dublin.

The news follows reports on RTE on Tuesday that as many as 50 people could lose their jobs at Creative Labs in Blanchardstown. The company, which has its European headquarters in Dublin, told ENN it had no comment on the RTE story.

Last week, Motorola spin-off Freescale Semiconductors revealed plans to close its operation in Cork with the loss of 47 high-tech jobs, which are to be transferred to the US. Freescale has its headquarters in Texas.

The job losses at Symantec are a result of its plans to transfer manufacturing and distribution operations from Dublin to the Czech Republic on 1 November. Symantec said 40 people would lose their jobs at its Ballycoolin facility in west Dublin by the end of October, with the remaining jobs going during the first half of 2009.

In a statement, Symantec spokesman Dominic Cook stressed that the vast majority of the company's 1,190 workforce in Ireland would not be affected by the move and the management team needed to run the manufacturing and distribution operations in the Czech Republic would continue to be based in Dublin.

Pointing to plans to create up to 43 Irish jobs through a contract with ServiceSource to handle telephone sales across EMEA, Cook added: "Ireland continues to be a very important hub for Symantec, especially in high-value roles such as research and development. The creation of 43 new jobs at ServiceSource is a further indication of our continued commitment."

The transfer of Symantec's manufacturing facility to the Czech Republic brings an end to 17 years of manufacturing operations in Dublin.