THE WORLD'S largest manufacturer and installer of lifts, Otis, has laid off almost 10% of its Irish workforce due to the ongoing slowdown in the construction sector.

A company spokeswoman confirmed the redundancies had taken place in its construction division in recent weeks.

It is believed that the move was triggered by a sharp reduction in the number of lifts ordered from the firm in recent months.

"The 14 redundancies that have taken place in Ireland reflect the recent downturn in construction activity there. This significant decline in activity has been primarily in the apartment and residential market," said the spokeswoman.

At the height of the construction boom, Otis' Irish division was so busy that it had to subcontract some work and bring in engineers from its British operation. Both measures have been recently suspended.

However, the company said it was confident there would be no further redundancies in its Irish business in the foreseeable future. It currently employs 149 staff here.

"We've looked at our business very carefully. Redundancies at any time are unfortunate and we believe that this level of redundancies was necessary to sustain the business going forward."

Last week, figures from the Central Statistics Office revealed that employment in the construction industry fell by almost 14% in April compared with 12 months ago.

A study by consultants DKM claimed that the Irish building industry is now the worst performer in Europe with output set to fall by 17.7% this year.