Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said that the behavior of some tech companies in announcing job losses recently fell “far short” of what would be expected under Irish employment laws.
It comes as workers at Twitter who survived last week’s mass lay-offs are facing harsher work conditions and growing uncertainty about their ability to keep Twitter running safely, while staff at Meta Ireland have been requested not to discuss the almost 400 job losses in Ireland among themselves.
Mr O’Donohoe told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that the treatment of some tech staff had been “appalling”. The situation should have been handled with compassion and clarity, he said.
The IDA had been in contact with the tech companies involved to remind them of their specific obligations under Irish employment legislation, he added.
Mr Donohoe said the job losses were now an opportunity for some of the people involved to create their own companies. “I am blown away by tech entrepreneurship in this country”.
Despite the job losses announced recently, Mr Donohoe was confident that Ireland would continue to have a strong tech sector. The changes in the industry were global, not just specific to Ireland. Enterprise Ireland’s high-performance start-up unit was “one of the best in the world”.
The country had prepared for a lower level of growth in the economy next year with an anticipated growth of between 1% and 1.5%, which was lower than in recent years, but the country continued to have a consistent high level of employment.
He outlined that the Government had prepared for any developing vulnerabilities which was why they had put money into the Rainy Day Fund. While there was not a recession at present, he acknowledged that it was tough for families and businesses with rising prices.
The temporary business energy support scheme will commence shortly which will last until February and cover energy bills — up to 40% of bills that increase by more than 50% — from September 1, he said.
However, the minister warned that he could not cover all of the costs without creating other risks for the country. It was about getting the balance right as had been done during the pandemic.
Mr Donohoe said: “We want to be confident that what we launch, we can afford”.
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