In day of continuing pressure for the Government over the economic crisis, a large building firm has announced a slew of job cuts.

The Wolseley Building Plumbing and building supplies group has announced it is to lay off 180 staff nationwide and close four stores around the country.

Two of the shops are based in Tullamore, Co Offaly where workers are meeting with management. Meetings with workers at two other stores will be held this afternoon.

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A spokesman for the company has attributed the company's recent troubles to "further deterioration in Wolseley's general trading environment in November and December due to unprecedented events in the global financial markets and negative GDP trends."

The company also claimed that recent exchange rate movement has negatively affected the company's overall debt position, with an increase of 22% according to their latest figures for the five months ending 31 December 2008.

The groups spokesman added that the next few months will be critical in providing further evidence to assess how the downturn may evolve.

(DW/BMcC)