JOBS MINISTER RICHARD Bruton has welcomed an announcement from Aviva that it is to cut fewer jobs than expected in Ireland.

The company had previously signalled that 770 jobs would be lost throughout its Irish operations but this morning indicated that number will drop to 540.

In addition, Aviva said it will create 220 new positions in insurance claims and direct sales centres in Galway. Recruitment will start in the summer, according to chief executive Seán Egan.

Bruton said that he has met with management at Aviva on a number of occasions with officials from the IDA since the job losses were announced last October. He added:

A large number of people in Aviva will be made voluntarily redundant as part of this process, and are still facing a very difficult situation this morning. However the news that the number of job losses will be substantially lower than originally announced is very welcome.

He also paid tribute to Aviva’s senior management, unions and workers for their work in reaching today’s outcome.

About 180 jobs have already been cut at Aviva Europe. An agreement in principal on redundancy packages has been reached between the Unite trade union and Aviva.

Those taking voluntary redundancy will receive six weeks pay per year of service plus each staff member affected will receive a personal retraining allowance of €8,000.

Every one of the 540 redundancies will be taken on a voluntary basis.

“We remain disappointed at the loss of jobs” said regional officer Brian Gallagher, “but there has been a reduction in the number of positions being made redundant from an original 770 to a figure now of 540.”

“In addition we are pleased to have secured an initial 220 new positions in Galway as well as maintaining strong existing bases in Dublin and Cork.”

Unite said it will be recommending to its members to agree to the redundancy package when they are balloted in the next two weeks.