Alcatel-Lucent’s decision comes on the back of a difficult merger between the French firm Alcatel and US company Lucent, both of whom had pre-merger operations in Ireland. The company were forced to shed 12,500 jobs, 16% of staff, earlier this year following a significant fall in first quarter profits.

Alcatel was part of the consortium that won the major contract to modernise the Irish telephone system network from the Government of Charles Haughey in 1980. It opened a factory near Bandon, County Cork and at one stage, had a payroll of up to 400. Lucent, who also had operations in Ireland, reported one of the biggest losses on record during the tech meltdown.

The company currently employs 260 full time staff and 130 contract workers in Dublin, as well as employing 20 people in Cork. Back in February 2007 they announced that 70 jobs out of the 260 in Ireland would go by the end of 2008, as part of the 12,500 reductions that were announced at the time.

Speaking to the Cork Independent yesterday, Jenny Crooper, Alcatel-Lucent, said, “The additional 4000 job cuts we announced today will occur throughout the company and will be completed by 2009. We don’t have the specifics as to exactly where these reductions will take place, either by geographic or business organization.

“We are taking a fair and balanced approach to workforce reductions, taking into account the needs of each business and of each marketplace to ensure we are best positioned to serve our customers’ needs, while achieving a competitive cost structure. We know this will be painful news for those individuals involved but we have committed to treat all employees with respect and dignity.”

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