The monthly tally of people facing redundancy rose by 13 per cent year-on-year to 2,353 in February, according to statistics released yesterday by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The Department published notified redundancy figures for last month yesterday. The statistics detail the number of workers who were told during February that they were being made redundant. Not all of the workers are let go during the same month in which they are put on notice.
The figures show that there were 2,353 notified redundancies during the month, a 12.9 per cent increase on February 2003. The figures were also ahead of January, when 2,287 people were notified that they faced the prospect of losing their jobs. That was a 5 per cent increase on January 2003.
The statistics indicate that there is a growing momentum in the rate at which people are losing their jobs. The position so far this year is worse than 2003, when more than 2,300 people a month on average were made redundant.
A number of businesses announced sizeable job losses during February. In Cork, CG Services and Irish Distillers said they were letting 148 people go. Over 100 jobs in Fitzpatrick Packaging in Limerick and Mayo were lost.
A further 66 jobs are to go in Co Tipperary bicycle manufacturer Scram. In the capital, Bewley's announced that it was closing a bakery with the loss of 44 jobs.
