Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff plans to make more than half its remaining workers redundant, the BBC has learned.

This will leave little more than a skeleton workforce at the yard.

In recent years Harlands has limped from crisis to crisis, shrinking with every one.

Just over four months ago, it put together a rescue plan that was expected to secure close to 400 jobs in the short term - with employment expected to grow next year.

Sir Reg Empey has called together business leaders

But once again the work is running out - and that rescue plan has so far failed to deliver news orders.

As a result, more than 200 workers are soon expected to get formal warning of redundancy.

Further losses

The news of the job losses on Wednesday came on top of an announcement by telecommunications firm Nortel that it was cutting a further 200 jobs at its Monkstown plant in County Antrim.

The job losses bring to 800 the number of redundancies announced in the province in less than a week.

Nortel has been haemorrhaging jobs since the beginning of last year.

The announcement will take the current workforce at the Monkstown factory down to 780 from a peak of over 2,000.

Eighty of the jobs are to go in the company's operations division and 120 positions will be cut from the research and development department, which is central to the firm's future success.

Nortel is shedding 200 jobs

Cuts there are a sign of the depth of the crisis facing the company.

A company spokesman said it recognised it was a difficult time for its workers and, therefore, had entered into discussions with the trade unions to mitigate the effects.

This announcement follows on from Nortel's statement in August that it was reducing its workforce globally by 7,000 as it attempts to stem losses following a slump in sales.

The plant makes telecommunications transmission equipment and has been a market leader in the provision of fibre optics.

The Newtownabbey operation is Nortel's largest optical systems house in Europe. Last year the company won the Northern Ireland Exporter of the Year Award.

The company is a subsidiary of the Canadian-owned global hi-tech corporation which operates in 100 countries.

It was the fourth redundancy announcement in Northern Ireland since last Friday three of them in east Antrim.

American electronics Solectron announced 80 jobs were to go at its plant in Carrickfergus, while 135 jobs were lost at Getty Communications in the town.

That has prompted Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey to call a forum of local representatives next week to discuss what if anything might be done.