Announcement to be made today as fears grow for 400 jobs at Intel plant in Kildare

Staff at the Intel plant in Leixlip will find out today whether or not their jobs are safe as the threat of 400 job losses looms large over the heads of the company's employees.

There are currently 4,500 people employed at the Leixlip plant, which is by far the biggest in Ireland, and it is feared that the Kildare base will bear the brunt of the cuts in Ireland.

Redundancies will be offered to some employees, but most of the redundancies are expected to be on a largely voluntary basis. Company chiefs have been meeting with employees since yesterday afternoon and it it expected that they will conclude their meetings at some point today. An announcement on the number of job losses will then be made by Intel.

It would be a severe blow to the Kildare area in terms of jobs as last week it was announced that there would be 35 jobs cut at Glanbia in Ballitore.