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"The company regrets this development which arises from general market conditions worldwide and forms part of a global initiative designed to realign the business, decrease operational costs and to improve flexibility and business competitiveness," Alcatel said in a statement. Prior to the cuts Alcatel employed 160 in Ireland although this figure was down from the 200 Irish workers the company retained in November 2001.
Alcatel has been in Ireland since 1982 and along with the software development operation in Bandon, Co. Cork, the company runs a telecommunications networking services operation. The remainder of the firm's Irish workers operate Alcatel's logistics centre in Shannon, Co. Clare and a sales office in Dublin.
Since 1982, the company has received IEP2.5 million in funding from the IDA, including EUR500,000 of which was paid to the HLR software development side of the business.
The company briefed employees of the situation Friday afternoon and said it would offer help to departing workers in finding new jobs.
The Paris-based telecommunications conglomerate has undergone an aggressive restructuring plan over the past three years. In the last 12 months the massive corporation has announced in excess of 30,000 job losses to slim employee figures down to the company's current level of around 99,000. t
Last October the company announced 10,000 job cuts across its business groups and in more recent weeks the company sold off its internal sales division to Platinum, with 6,500 employees to move to the new business. Another recent move for Alcatel was the sale of a number of manufacturing facilities in Europe to Sanmina-SCI.
Earlier this week however Olivier Houssin, president of Alcatel's E-business operations, said in a press briefing in Paris that the firm was finished with its restructuring. The comment was made after the company introduced its latest OmniSwitch data switches at the Alcatel Enterprise Forum.
The firm's new products were the final building block in its plan to re-launch itself as a premier provider of enterprise data network solutions.
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