January

5th: The year begins with a massive blow to Waterford as one of its major employers, luxury goods firm Waterford Wedgwood, is put into receivership with the loss of up to 800 jobs. The company is subsequently sold to US firm KPS capital, but the deal does not include the sale of its crystal manufacturing plant at Kilbarry, Waterford, where 480 people had been employed. KPS later indicates that it hopes to rescue up to 250 jobs by keeping on some sales and back office staff, as well as workers in the visitors' centre at the site.

8th: Dell Ireland announces it is to cease manufacturing in Limerick with the loss of around 1,900 jobs. Although widely expected, it comes as a huge shock to the region, prompting fears of a knock-on effect for some 1,500 jobs in firms which supply the company.

8th: It emerges that Antrim-based engineering firm FG Wilson is to lay off up to 260 workers, just one month after it laid off 180 other employees.

16th: German-owned Amann Industries tells its workers it is cutting 120 jobs at its Tralee manufacturing plant.

16th: Car components manufacturer Kostal tells its 1,100 workers in Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick and Mallow, Co Cork that it is seeking 300 redundancies. The company is the largest employer in Limerick apart from Dell.

16th: Dublin Bus announces that it is cutting 290 jobs, scrapping the weekday Nitelink service and removing 1,000 scheduled journeys from its timetable. Under a subsequent plan brokered at the Labour Relations Commission, a reduction in its fleet will go ahead along with changes to pay arrangements, but there will be no compulsory redundancies.

19th: US medical insurance firm Cigna announces that it is to close its east Galway base with the loss of 180 jobs.

20th: It emerges that loss-making Bus Éireann also plans to make some 320 staff redundant in an attempt to help it break even.

21st: Supermarket chain Superquinn announces it is closing its Dundalk store with the loss of 68 jobs. It also says it is cutting another 332 jobs in its other stores. It subsequently agrees a deal with its 3,000 staff to shed 394 jobs on a voluntary redundancy basis.

22nd: At Galmoy mines in north Kilkenny, 221 workers are told it will close in May, two years ahead of a scheduled closure.

23rd: Soft drinks firm Britvic blames the downturn as it announces up to 160 phased redundancies in Cork, Waterford, Ballyshannon and Belfast. Most of the losses will be in logistics, finance, IT and sales.

26th: It emerges that Ulster Bank plans to cut up to 750 jobs across its businesses north and south of the border, while its sister bank, First Active, will cease to exist as a separate entity.

27th: International medical technologies firm GE Healthcare confirms it is to lay off 50 of its 500-strong workforce at its Carrigtwohill plant in Co Cork.

27th: Dungannon engineering firm Powerscreen also says it is to cut 90 jobs at its plant.

30th: Peugeot Ireland confirms that Westland Motors in Liffey Valley, Dublin, is to be wound up with the loss of 25 jobs, while Ford says that Winfield motors, which has garages in Sandymount and Dun Laoghaire, is to shut down with the loss of 30 jobs.

February

4th: IBM announces it is to close part of its server operation with the loss of 120 jobs at its technology campus in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin.

4th: Boston Scientific, the medical devices firm, announces it is to close its facility in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, with the loss of 120 jobs. The company previously announced the closure of its Tullamore plant with the loss of 240 jobs.

5th: Telecoms firm Ericsson Ireland reveals that it plans to lay off 300 workers at its Clonskeagh campus in Dublin over 18 months. Meanwhile, Ryanair announces plans to cut services at Shannon airport with the loss of 100 jobs, with a possible effect on 700 other support jobs. Video and DVD rental firm Chartbusters also tells the Commercial Court that 60 employees will lose their jobs due to shop closures. This is in addition to the loss of 34 jobs at forklift manufacturer Combilift and 44 at grain company Drummonds. Non-profit community organisation Pobal says it is making 90 staff, or one-third of its workforce, redundant due to government cutbacks. In Northern Ireland, Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier says 300 subcontracted jobs will be cut as part of its worldwide restructuring programme.

12th: At the Dublin base of airline maintenance firm SR Technics, 1,135 staff are told they will be made redundant by the firm, which was formerly known as FLS, Team Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Maintenance. It lost three aircraft maintenance contracts with Aer Lingus last year (2008). A new venture, Dublin Aerospace, subsequently takes over part of the company's business and says it expects to create up to 150 jobs in its first year.

After weeks of speculation about its future, one of Dell Ireland's biggest suppliers, RR Donnelly (formerly Banta) confirms that 477 jobs are to go. Ryanair also axes 200 jobs at Dublin airport, although staff will be eligible to transfer to other parts of the company's European network for lower wages.

17th: Staff at Intel's manufacturing operation in Leixlip, Co Kildare are warned that the company expects to seek 200-300 voluntary redundancies.

19th: Cider-maker Bulmers informs staff of its plans to cut 121 jobs, or almost a quarter of its workforce. It says most job losses will come from the company's operations in Clonmel, where 103 jobs are to go, and the remainder from its Dublin and Northern Ireland businesses.

20th: Staff at Kerry Foods' plant in Shillelagh, Co Wicklow, are told that it is seeking to cut 70 jobs from its 820-strong workforce.

23rd: Davy Stockbrokers cuts pay across the board and eliminates 12 jobs, on top of the elimination of up to 75 positions at the firm in July 2008.

24th: Bus maker the Wright Group, based in Ballymena, Co Antrim, says it will cut 235 jobs after losing a significant order.

25th: Building supplies company Wolseley Ireland cuts 180 jobs, or around a fifth of its Irish workforce, amid plans to close four of its branches. Pharmaceutical giant Elan announces 115 job losses between its Dublin and Athlone operations. Fears also grow for some 125 staff at medical device manufacturer Sanmina-SCI, based in Fermoy.

March

4th: Global accountancy and consulting firm KPMG announces around 200 job cuts among its Irish workforce. Waterford's largest remaining private-sector employer, Bausch & Lomb, cuts its 1,400-strong workforce by 195. Hewlett Packard also confirms that it will be letting 120 contract staff go from its Kildare plant.

11th: Accountancy firm Deloitte says it is seeking 70 voluntary redundancies and pay cuts of up to 10% from remaining employees.

13th: Midlands-based meat company Dunbia announces 80 redundancies.

16th: Ryanair says it is cutting another aircraft from its summer schedule at Dublin airport with the loss of 50 jobs among cabin crew and check-in staff.

20th: Dell Ireland tells staff at its plants at Cherrywood, Co Dublin, and Raheen, Co Limerick, that it is likely to seek around another 230 redundancies as part of a drive to cut costs worldwide.

25th: TV3 announces 12 compulsory redundancies and a company-wide pay cut.

27th: Up to 150 jobs are lost at Flextronics in Limerick after it decides to wind down its operation there. The company had relied heavily on Dell for its business.

30th: Nortel Networks, the troubled Canadian telecommunications group, axes 87 jobs in Northern Ireland.

31st: Pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough announces it will close its animal health products plant in Bray, Co Wicklow in two years with the loss of all 240 jobs. In Belfast, car components firm Visteon goes into administration, leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs.

April

2nd: Electronics manufacturer Flextronics sheds 130 workers from its base at Dublin Hill, Cork. Meanwhile, drinks manufacturer Bulmers announces 23 redundancies in addition to the 121 announced in February.

2nd: In Northern Ireland, Canadian-owned aircraft maker Bombardier announces plans to cut almost 1,000 jobs across its four plants in the greater Belfast area, shocking workers, unions and political representatives.

3rd: Snack food manufacturer Largo foods announces 123 redundancies at its plant in Gweedore Industrial Estate in Co Donegal.

21st: One of Dublin's landmark five-star hotels, the Conrad at Earlsfort Terrace, confirms that it is to undertake a restructuring programme which will lead to the loss of 32 jobs.

22nd: Aircraft maintenance firm Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Ireland (LTAI) puts 465 employees on protective notice in a dispute over changes to work practices, and warns that up to 150 staff at the Rathcoole facility in west Dublin may need to be laid off in the immediate future.

24th: The remaining 210 jobs at Amann in Tralee are lost. The company decides to close the plant after a previous restructuring programme involving 120 redundancies failed.

27th: Longford pet food manufacturer C&D food cuts 53 jobs, in addition to the 29 job losses announced at the end of March.

May

7th: International courier company DHL says it is to axe 320 jobs and shut seven regional depots around the country while introducing staff cutbacks at offices and warehouses in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. It also emerges that Belgian technology firm Option Wireless in Kilbarry, Co Cork, is to cut 55 jobs.

12th: In a letter to staff, Dublin Airport Authority says it is seeking 400 redundancies at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. Eircom confirms it has reached a restructuring deal with unions, with the reported loss of 1,200 jobs over two years.

13th: Retail giant Tesco reveals it intends to lay off 140 staff at its Dun Laoghaire headquarters following its decision to import more goods directly from the UK rather than sourcing them from Irish suppliers. Meanwhile, travel firm Thomas Cook says it intends to close three of its Dublin shops, two other branches and a DirectHolidays outlet, placing 77 jobs under threat. Staff members barricade themselves into two of its Dublin shops in protest at the redundancy terms offered by the company. In Donegal, James Likely Ltd, a building services contractor, goes into liquidation with the loss of 75 jobs, while Galway-based electronics firm Steiner says it will cease production in June, leading to 45 job losses. Leading legal firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice announces that 25 jobs are to go from its 600-strong workforce. This follows 20 other redundancies at the firm in February.

21st: Scientific Games Corporation in Ballymahon, Co Longford reveals that it plans to cut 15 staff positions.

June

4th: Coca Cola HBC Ireland outlines plans to cut up to 130 jobs in its Irish bottling and distribution businesses around the country by outsourcing them.

5th: Corden PharmaChem in Cork announces it will be phasing out manufacturing at its Little Island plant with the loss of some 90 jobs. Some 130 permanent and short-term contract workers finish work for the last time at Cork-based Dawn Meats' deboning operation at Midleton.

10th: Siptu says 40 jobs are to be lost at Beru Electronics in Tralee, which manufactures car components

12th: German personal care products company Braun announces the end of manufacturing in Carlow with the loss of 160 jobs. It also emerges that around 70 jobs are to go at the Kerry Foods plant in Glenealy, Co Wicklow.

16th: Staff at Guinness manufacturer and global drinks giant Diageo are told it is seeking 107 redundancies in Ireland, mainly at its Dublin operations.

17th: Ryanair says it is further scaling down its operations at Dublin and Shannon airports. The removal of one aircraft from each airport for its winter schedule will lead to 100 job losses, it says.

24th: One of the largest Toyota dealerships in the state, Tom Hogan Motors, goes into liquidation with the expected loss of almost 200 jobs in Galway, Clonmel, Ennis, Limerick and Shannon. Confectionery giant Cadbury says it is seeking up to 200 job cuts at its plants at Coolock, north Dublin and Rathmore, Co Kerry.

25th: Irish language publication Foinse announces that it is to cease publication with the loss of 10 jobs, although the publication is later revived. Manufacturing company ABB announces it is to close its Waterford plant next March with the loss of 178 jobs. The factory had been in operation since 1951.

29th: Meadow Meats, part of the Dawn Group, in Rathdowney, Co Laois, tells workers that 100 jobs are to be axed.

July

1st: Waterford-based Bausch & Lomb says it will cut another 120 jobs in addition to 195 redundancies announced earlier in the year.

Packaging giant Smurfit Kappa also announces 140 job losses at its paper converting plant in Togher, Co Cork.

21st: Computer chip maker Intel announces it is to mothball one of its four Irish plants with the loss of 294 jobs at Leixlip, in Co Kildare.

22nd: It is announced that 370 jobs are to go at industrial diamond company Element Six with the closure of its manufacturing and distribution unit in Shannon. This figure is reduced to 207 after workers at the plant agree to accept a Labour Court recommendation on a survival plan for the company.

27th: Building supplies company Wolseley Ireland informs staff members of 95 more job losses on top of the redundancies announced in February.

30th: Ryanair says 250 more job will be lost at Dublin airport after it decides to further reduce its winter fleet from 16 to 14.

August

7th: Ulster Bank announces plans to seek 250 further job cuts in addition to the 750 job cuts it announced in January, after 1,500 people applied for its redundancy plan.

11th: Global oilfield and information services company Schlumberger cuts 69 jobs at its Northern Ireland operation. Meanwhile, well-known Dublin pub the Spawell lounge and restaurant in Templeogue shuts with the loss of 32 jobs.

19th: Sunway Holidays shuts three of its Dublin shops with the loss of nine jobs.

21st: Delivery giant UPS announces that around 200 jobs are to go after it decides to close its Tallaght call centre.

27th: Insurer Friends First reveals plans to cut 147 jobs, mostly in the Dublin area.

September

2nd: Pharmaceutical firm Elan announces it is seeking 29 redundancies at its plant in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

3rd: Insurance giant Allianz unveils plans to cut more than 100 jobs in the Dublin area. Meanwhile, 80 workers face redundancy at telecommunications contractor Morrison Utilities in Portlaoise, Cork and Dublin after the company lost a contract with Eircom. Elsewhere, 50 people are let go at Banagher Concrete in Co Offaly, while provincial newspaper the Connaught Telegraph axes seven jobs in Castlebar, Co Mayo.

4th: Waterford's second-largest employer, Teva Pharmaceuticals, announces that it will make 315 of the 705 staff at its city plant redundant. American pulp and paper manufacturer Georgia Pacific also announces 77 job losses at its plant in Finglas, Dublin.

8th: At Aer Lingus, 63 temporary cabin crew are let go after being told of a "major jobs announcement" via text message from management at the company.

11th: British newspaper firm and regional newspaper owner Johnston Press sheds 46 jobs with the closure of its print works in Kilkenny.

October

1st: Independent Network News, which supplied national news coverage to local radio stations, announces it will cease trading at the end of the month with the loss of 16 jobs.

6th: GE Money announces that it expects to lay off approximately 65 of its 280 staff, with jobs going in Shannon and Dublin.

7th: Finnish company Tecnotree proposes 80 job cuts, or more than half of its 141-strong Shannon workforce. Meanwhile, 30 jobs are also cut at Condron Concrete in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

14th: US-owned electronics company Harris Corporation announces it is shutting its plant at Ballytrasna in Cork, with the loss of 119 jobs.

November

4th: It emerges that state-owned lender Anglo Irish Bank is seeking up to 230 job cuts, and is likely to seek a similar number again in the course of a larger restructuring over the next two years. This will see its overall staff levels fall by about 470 to 1,300.

11th: Medical firm Stiefel Laboratories in Sligo announces that it is to cease operations within four years with the loss of 250 jobs.

24th: Toy maker Hasbro cuts 22 jobs in Waterford. Meanwhile, Aviva Investors Ireland says it will wind down most of its investment management operations in Dublin with the loss of up to 30 jobs.

25th: Ireland's largest tour operator, Budget Travel, ceases trading with the loss of 172 jobs and the closure of 17 shops.

26th: Option Wireless in Cork announces 150 further job cuts at its Kilbarry plant. It is also announced that the Tiscali call centre in Sligo town is to close with the loss of 160 jobs.

28th: It emerges that Irish Life & Permanent is considering a voluntary redundancy scheme before Christmas involving the departure of about 100 staff from its 5,000-strong workforce.

December

1st: Aer Lingus indicates that more than 1,000 workers could be made redundant over the coming months after management failed to reach agreement with unions on a cost-cutting plan. It is seeking 676 voluntary redundancies but claims it may have to axe over 1,000 jobs if agreement is not reached. Meanwhile, over 100 jobs losses are announced at Lombard Ireland, the asset financing subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland, which has offices in Dublin and Belfast.

7th: It emerges that An Post is to lay off over 1,375 of its 10,000 staff over the next three years in a cost-cutting plan agreed with the company's four main unions. Elsewhere, National Irish Bank announces plans to close 25 branches and cut 150 jobs over the next 18 months.

9th: Cruiser company Emerald Star announces the loss of 20 jobs as part of a restructuring process.

'I've always had a hunger to work for myself' - Stephen O'Donnell, Aer Lingus

Taking a break from the controlled chaos that accompanies the weeks before getting any new enterprise up and running, Stephen O'Donnell is palpably upbeat about the future.

Despite having taken redundancy from Aer Lingus earlier this year after spending 12 years there as a member of its cabin crew – with all of the opportunities for travel this involved –he is focused very much on the job in hand.

The job in question is that of owner/manager of his new café and restaurant, called Pizza Snug and Coffee House, which is due to open its doors at O'Neill Street in the centre of Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, in the coming weeks.

O'Donnell is sanguine about the reasons behind his departure from Aer Lingus. In fact, it had been in the pipeline since November 2008 when he expressed an initial interest in availing of the possibilities it might offer.

At the end of last summer, he was invited to an interview when the full details of what was being provided were made known.

"You can only make a decision when you have all the facts and figures before you," he says. "So I had a look at the exit package they were offering, and looked to see if that could then bring me into something else. If it hadn't been enough I would have stayed."

But he made the jump, after carefully weighing up the pros and cons with his partner, who also works with the airline.

Among the other key considerations for the pair were quality-of-life issues such as the impact of shift work, and the demands of the commute between Carrickmacross and the airport.

"To be honest with you it was always about the right opportunity. I've always had a hunger to work for myself, to be my own boss, and to put my own mark on a business. So when I had the money together, I decided to go for it," he says.

He now hopes to bring many of the same skills he learned at Aer Lingus to his new enterprise, which will create employment for six or seven staff as it will be open from early in the morning until late at night.

"One of things which was always a priority in Aer Lingus was customer service. And one of the things that has always niggled with me is when you go into somewhere and they don't even say a simple hello," he says.

He has also availed of the supports on offer from various state bodies, and has completed a 'start your own business course' provided by the local enterprise board over 10 weeks. He says he has drawn comfort from the experiences of his fellow classmates too.

"One of the things that concerned me was the idea of starting a business mid-recession. But one of the things that did kind of surprise me about it is that, in the middle of a recession, quite a lot of people are starting up a business," he says. "It actually was great encouragement just to know others are in the same boat."

'It has everything to do with age. Who wants to take on a 56-year-old?' - John Devlin, SR Technics

"I've been doing absolutely nothing since April, apart from painting the house and things like that. I spend most of my time on the internet looking for jobs… In the first three months I applied for a job every day but only got one reply. That was from Ikea saying I didn't even get called for interview."

Married father of three John Devlin is typical of so many of those made redundant in 2009, who have struggled to find work because of their age.

The 56-year-old lost his job providing project support for aircraft maintenance firm SR Technics when it decided to pull out of this country in February.

Devlin had been working at the Dublin airport-based company, in its former incarnations of FLS, Team Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Maintenance for 32 years.

"I absolutely loved it. It was a great job, meeting customers and helping out people," he says. "We were let go in April, but it was about six weeks before that when we were told they were going to close the place. They were planning this two years ago. But it still came as a complete surprise, even to senior management in Dublin."

Based in River Valley in Swords, Devlin says he has already done two Fás courses – one in hazardous driving and the other in construction safety – and has enrolled on a third.

The aim of all this has been simple: to retrain with a view to getting work in a new industry. He has had little or no success to date, despite his best efforts.

"I think it has absolutely everything to do with age… Who wants to take on a 56 year old?," he says. "There is nothing there for us. I still have a mortgage but it is only insured until July. I spent around a month dissecting my bills. I got rid of my telephone people, and I'm with Bord Gáis instead of the ESB. So I've done all that "

He says he is angry and upset at a government that has "let us down as workers".

Meanwhile, he and his wife, who is in receipt of disability allowance, will continue to try to "make do" at a time when money is extremely tight.

"Even if a small amount of social welfare is going to be cut, you feel it. When you have no money, 20 cents is a lot of money. When you have loads of money, €100 is nothing," he says "Years ago parents would always help out their children if there was no work. But now both parents and children have no money. And that's a real change.

"There's no work out there. [Brian] Lenihan says we are coming out of the recession. I'm sure he's not telling a lie. I'm sure there's going to be jobs for us all next year," he says, with more than a hint of sarcasm.

'It's about filling in the day. It's a huge change. It's a blow to your confidence' - Tony Kelly, Waterford Wedgwood

For 32 of the 35 years he spent working with Waterford Wedgwood, Tony Kelly was employed as a specialist cutter in its manufacturing wing.

As a shop steward for workers there, he was also centrally involved in a much-publicised protest at the plant, when workers occupied the site after it went into receivership last January.

"It was instinctive," he says of the decision to stage the sit-in. "We had a shop steward meeting that morning about trying to get someone to take over the place. But it was only when we left the meeting that Friday morning that word came through the receiver was sacking everybody. We all converged on the gallery area where tourists go. We continued the sit-in while talks continued. I don't feel we would have got [the talks] if wasn't for the occupation."

While the workers received "huge support" from the people of Waterford, the impact of losing his job has really hit home for Kelly during the past year.

"I'm 52 now. I was talking to a person this morning, only about an hour ago, and we were saying it's about filling in the day. It's a huge change. I'm working since I was 13-and-a-half years of age. It's a blow to your confidence," he explains.

Married with two grown-up children, he and his wife, who works part-time at a local school, have been hit by the loss of income too.

"Financially when you get some money during the year, you are dipping into it. You're going to eat into whatever small pound you get," he says. "Prospects for work are not good. You sign up with Fás and all that. But there is nothing there really. I have no mortgage so I'm lucky in that way, but of course age is a factor. Hopefully for the younger people in there who had mortgages, their job prospects will improve. But Waterford itself is a small community; when you look at what happened, Waterford crystal was a huge loss."

Kelly is involved in the former workers' ongoing battle with government to ensure they get the pension to which they believe they are entitled.

"The general mood is bleak for the future. If people could see some light, in that budget for example, then maybe it would help. I don't see anything much in relation to stimulating the economy, job creation. People don't see anything changing in the near future... For a lot of people in there, you're just cutting glass, blowing glass all your life. And suddenly that's taken away from you."