The American-headquartered company has proposed to scale back functions at the Irish plant after it deemed its cost base "unsustainable".

If implemented, the redundancies would be made between February and July next year. 

Hugh McGlasson, managing director of Georgia-Pacific Ireland, said: "This is a very difficult time for the company and its employees, as we are proposing a number of redundancies.

"The cost base we have in Ireland is unsustainable for current and expected market conditions and it makes us uncompetitive."

He added that the business needed to act now to consolidate parts of its network and safeguard the viability of the company.

McGlasson said the move was not a reflection on the importance of Ireland to the business and vowed that the management team would work with employees and their relevant representatives to help minimise the impact of the programme.

"We simply need to reduce our costs in order to preserve our long-term future in Ireland. These are difficult times and we need to respond accordingly," he added.

Georgia-Pacific is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of paper, packaging, pulp, building products and related chemicals.