Facebook has assured the Government that it will follow all laws around redundancies when Irish job losses are announced, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has confirmed.
Meta, which is the parent company of Facebook, announced it will lay off 13% of its workforce - around 11,000 staff - on Wednesday. The firm currently has 3,000 employees in Ireland.
On his way into Cabinet on Wednesday morning, Mr Varadkar, who is the Minister for Enterprise, said that Meta has to inform its shareholders and employees before the Government.
READ MORE: US Congress race on a knife-edge as Democrats hold key states and 'Red Wave' flops out
However, he said that his Department of Enterprise has been in touch with the company and will be in touch with them again today. It remained unclear, he said, how many people will be made redundant.
“My thoughts are with the employees,” the Tánaiste said. “It is a very difficult time of year to get bad news, particularly in the run up to Christmas.
“We do have the absolute assurance from the company that all the legal processes will be respected. So it'll be at least 30 days of information and consultation before anyone is laid off.
“There will be a redundancy package and an exit package for staff to make sure that they're given some financial security. We as Government will make sure that to get the help, they need to find other employment.”
Mr Varadkar also said that any employee who loses their job will be given information and help to apply for social welfare, further education and training or set up their own business. The Tánaiste also said that any impact that job losses will have on Ireland’s corporation tax take will not be felt until next year.
The job losses at Facebook come at a worrying time for the tech sector, with job losses also expected at Twitter and Stripe.
READ NEXT:
