Dell is offloading its factory in Poland to Taiwanese knock 'em out giant Foxconn, less than a year after axing most of its Irish workers and shifting their jobs to the East European facility.

Hon Hai Precision, Foxconn's parent, has reportedly agreed to take over the factory in return for around $310m.

The latest deal will raise questions over exactly how committed to European manufacturing Dell is. Its decision to effectively pull out of Ireland with the closure of its Limerick facility caused massive political fallout in the country, which was already grappling with an economic disaster.

Dell was the Republic's biggest manufacturer in Ireland, and the retreat cost the local economy €117m and the government €173m in lost tax and social insurance contributions.

Still, the European Commission handed Dell €54.4m in aid for the Polish plan in September, AFP reports.

And last week, the EU sent €14.8m to Limerick to tide the stricken town over while it copes with the loss of the Dell jobs. ®

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• EU gifts Ireland €14.8m after Dell Limerick shutdown (26 November 2009)
• 300 Irish jobs go at Intel (22 July 2009)
• Dell retreat from Limerick will leave 9,500 casualties (25 March 2009)
• Comment There's no riddle to Dell's Limerick move (11 January 2009)
• Update Dell shuts Limerick factory and scraps 1,900 jobs (8 January 2009)
• Dell restructuring puts 2,000 Limerick jobs under threat (22 December 2008)