"Awful Day" as Aviva axes 950 jobs

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described it as "an awful day for employees at Aviva".

The British insurance giant is cutting a massive 950 jobs from its Irish operations as part of a global restructuring plan.

The company employs 2,000 people in Ireland and has had its European headquarters in the country since 2009.

But last Wednesday's cuts - among the harshest in any one firm since the downturn - means the European role of the Dublin office is being ended.

Temporary curtains were installed to block the media's view into the glass atrium of their Dublin office, as staff were being informed about the cuts at a meeting.

Union chiefs said the axe had fallen harder and sharper than their worst fears.

"They are stunned and scarred by what they have been told," said UNITE spokesman Brian Gallagher.

Staff at the firm were told it would be some time before they would find out which sections of the company's Irish operations and safe and which are to be closed.

So while it's known that 180 of the job cuts will be in Aviva Europe and 770 from Aviva Ireland, individual workers at the company do not know their fate.

Mr Gallagher said that he would have expected some indication from the company which areas were under threat.

"At the minute, they're saying that half the jobs are going, but they're not telling them which half-- which means everybody feels their jobs are under threat. I've never seen it done like this before."

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore said he believed the way Aviva had treated its Irish staff was "disgraceful".

He said the government had engaged with the company over the past month in a bid to minimize the impact on Irish jobs but to no avail.

The job cuts will begin early next year.

Aviva has offices in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Portlaoise.

Aviva's remaining Irish operations are to be subsumed into its British company, effectively treating the Irish market as a regional branch.