The computer manual and magazine printer, which was established in 1987, will cease manufacturing at its Tallaght-based facility, but said it hoped business could be picked up by "existing Irish facilities".

A spokesperson for the company told printweek.com: "It's too early to look at the future of the business. The emphasis at the moment is to deal with the staff and to ensure that they are looked after.

"Meetings are taking place with the relevant unions such as Amicus and Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu) to negotiate a suitable redundancy package," the spokesperson added.

Microprint managing director Alan Heatley said "serious financial losses since late 2006" coupled with "an increasingly competitive environment and rising cost pressures" meant the firm could not sustain the "heavy losses".

He added that "a growing uncertainty around future customer demand and the international sourcing of print" meant the manufacturing business of Microprint had "no viable future going forward".

Microprint, which produces work for software developer Symantec and prints titles such as Woman's Way and U Magazine for publisher Harmonia, will close on 3 April 2008.