Irish ministers are reportedly working to avert large-scale layoffs as the company announces plans to axe up to 2,000 jobs in Limerick.

Both the Tánaiste and the Minister for Defence recently met with senior company executives in Texas to discuss a multi-billion dollar review of Dell's worldwide operations.

The two apparently "communicated to Mr Michael Dell the significant benefits that the Limerick operation brings to the company, the city and the region".

Although Dell is likely to move ahead with the cuts, the firm has continued "internal consideration of exactly what its new strategy means for its operations in Limerick" and pledged to "communicate the details both to staff and to the Government as soon as it is in a position to do so".

In addition, the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence have vowed to provide assistance that could encourage the corporation to retain a significant presence in Limerick. However, Dell may have little choice but to shutter the centre after recording an eight per cent decrease in revenue from $16.43 billion in the second quarter to $15.16 billion in the third quarter.

"Our business model adapts quickly to economic changes, even the kind of significant challenge we saw in the third quarter," explained Michael Dell. "We increased profitability with an improved mix of products and services – more than a third of our revenue and profit now comes from servers, storage, services and software and peripherals – and benefited from initiatives to improve our competiveness, including tight cost controls." X

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