Ireland

Twitter sacks Dublin workers by email

Twitter employees in Dublin were informed by email yesterday they had lost their job.
Twitter employees in Dublin were informed by email yesterday they had lost their job. Twitter employees in Dublin were informed by email yesterday they had lost their job.

WORKERS in Twitter’s Dublin headquarters were abruptly told by email yesterday they no longer had a job.

Around 500 people are employed in the social media giant’s Dublin office, with some staff informed they were being made redundant.

It follows a week of unpredictability as tech billionaire Elon Musk completed his takeover of the company.

Staff were barred from entering the company building on Friday, and those who were laid off reported their work passwords had been changed overnight.

Twitter had told staff they would be updated by 4pm on Friday about their employment status.

One employee told RTÉ News: "My timeline is full of folk who have lost their jobs. Twitter was a special place to work, and the people made it so.

"The platform isn't without its flaws, but what made it worthwhile was knowing the moral integrity of the teams who were trying their best to improve the place.

"The failures of the company came from a lack of funding and support, and not from a lack of caring. The company we knew is dead, and that's devastating. It really was magic."

Around half of Twitter’s global workforce is being cut, and it is expected that will be reflected in Ireland.

An email sent to workers said: "In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday.”

Reacting to the news, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said tech companies in Ireland had probably expanded “a little bit too quickly,” even if it remained a profitable sector.

He added that Ireland had been careful not to "have all our eggs in one basket," with success in other sectors like pharmaceuticals and the food and drink industry.

Ireland's Labour party spokesperson on workers’ rights, Marie Sherlock, said Twitter was handling the redundancies in an "outrageous" manner.

“While political leaders were quick to be present for photocalls with Twitter, I hope they are just as quick to remind Twitter and all other companies of their legal responsibilities with regard to collective redundancies," she said.