Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 67: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to the announcement of the loss of 130 jobs at a plant (details supplied) in County Dublin; the discussions she has had with the industrial development agencies with a view to securing replacement jobs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19818/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am very aware of the impact on Xilinx employees and their families following the company's decision to reduce its workforce in Ireland. The company have announced that there will be 130 redundancies. I understand that the redundancies will take place between June and December this year with 15-20 jobs to be lost by June. In many cases, such company announcements are as a result of global conditions and/or global decisions, over which we have little influence. In this case the proposed redundancies are in the Manufacturing and Test operations which are being transferred to Asia. Xilinx has said that it has based its decision on cost competitiveness.

The remaining 220 positions are to remain in Dublin. These jobs are in R&D, Engineering, IT and other corporate and customer facing activities. I understand that the job outputs in these cases are of significant higher value and are seen by Xilinx's management as a base for future growth. The company has confirmed that Ireland will remain its European HQ and that there is a corporate commitment to all other activities.

Xilinx has entered into a full consultative process with its employees, where details of redundancy and options for employees will be outlined. The State development agencies under the aegis of my Department have adopted a co-ordinated approach in response to the announced job losses, which includes relevant interventions from all of the agencies, including FÁS, which will offer its full range of services to workers being made redundant.

IDA is conscious of the implications of job losses in the economy as a whole and in this respect the Agency's main focus is on securing investment from new and existing clients in the areas of High End Manufacturing, Global Services (including Financial Services) and Research, Development and Innovation. Within these areas the key sectors IDA focuses on are Life Sciences (Pharmaceutical, Biopharmaceutical and Medical Technologies), Information Communications Technology (ICT), Engineering, Professional Services, Digital Media, Consumer Brands and International Services. New opportunities are emerging in areas such as Clean Technology, Convergence and Services Innovation.