Personal computer maker Dell Inc. announced Tuesday that it will lay off 250 workers in Ireland as part of its global cost-cutting plan, a decision economists said reflected the rising expense of doing business here. The approximately 4,500 employees at Dell's two locations in Ireland were told of the layoffs when they arrived for work. The cuts are expected to begin in July. Dell, the No. 2 computer maker worldwide and No. 1 in the U.S., is Ireland's largest exporter and its biggest technology company. Since arriving in Ireland in 1990, the Round Rock, Texas-based company has developed its biggest European computer-assembly plant in the western city of Limerick and based its European sales and support base in the Dublin suburb of Clondalkin.
See "Computer maker Dell to cut 250 jobs in its European base of Ireland", Shawn Pogatchnik, Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 28, 2008