Microsoft Ireland informed 120 employees on Thursday that they would be laid off.
Microsoft revealed last month that up to 10,000 employees—or about 5% of its workforce—would be let go globally in the upcoming months.
At its Dublin headquarters, Microsoft has about 3,600 employees.
After Microsoft announced the job cuts, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stated that “Ireland will be affected” in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos the following day.
Numerous tech gaints, including PayPal, Spotify, Google’s parent company Alpha, Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp), and a number of others, have announced significant job cuts recently.
Neale Richmond, the minister of state in charge of employment affairs, said in a statement to The Journal: “Microsoft have been in touch with the Department of Enterprise today regarding the reduction of their workforce here in Ireland.”
“I know that this is a very worrying development for the 3,615 people who work for Microsoft in Leopardstown and my thoughts are with them and their families at this time.
“The Government will work closely with Microsoft to ensure they meet all their statutory obligations as well as closely with those impacted to assist them where needed.”
Richmond said that today’s announcement is “part of a global trend in the tech sector” but added that “Ireland has not suffered as many losses as many other countries”.
“The job losses in Ireland have been below the global averages announced,” said Richmond.
He added: “While this is of course deeply worrying for those impacted, we must remember that we are at full employment and there is a strong demand for tech skills across all sectors of the Irish economy.”