Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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All of us are familiar with the dreadful news regarding the outsourcing of jobs from Vodafone in Dundalk and Dublin to the Teleperformance company. This move will result in the export of over 300 jobs to Northern Ireland and my constituents in Louth will bear the brunt of this action. I urge the Minister to take practical steps to persuade Vodafone to review its decision in this case.

I also urge the Minister to undertake a review of the call centre and support sector in general in order to identify at risk jobs in this area and to prevent further such actions in the future. It is not acceptable to anybody here that a worker be told on a local radio station that his or her job is about to be transferred, yet this is what happened in Dundalk last week. The company has not been up-front with its staff in Dundalk or Dublin about its intentions. For a company at the cutting edge of communications, it has been remarkably reticent when it comes to communicating directly and supplying clear information to its employees. It asked for the trust and patience of its employees, but its actions to date suggest it is not deserving of such trust. The Vodafone company's record in other countries is littered with stories of tax avoidance and far from being a responsible member of the corporate community, it acts more like an international highwayman bullying governments and workers alike.

Ireland provides very generous terms to companies investing here. At the same time, we should provide stricter conditions to those terms and police and enforce them more rigorously. We should also look at the awarding of State contracts. The State has power not just as a legislator and enforcer, but also as a customer. Vodafone has been the beneficiary of several huge State contracts in recent years. Who, for example, knows that most of the parking meters here have a Vodafone SIM card installed, generating huge revenue for the company? These contracts and other business with the State should be reviewed in light of the company's recent decision in respect of the jobs in Dundalk and Dublin and the decision relating to jobs in Dundalk last June. We have options open to us and I urge the Minister to examine all the options at his disposal with regard to how to deal with this not just for now, but for the future also.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this most important issue. Like Deputy Nash and Deputy Kirk, I am shocked and appalled by Vodafone Ireland's announcement last Thursday, 22 March, to move a further 300 Irish customer service jobs from Dublin and Dundalk to another jurisdiction. This comes on the back of 140 jobs lost last May when Vodafone decided to move call centres from Ireland to Egypt and India. In total up to 440 jobs will be lost at Vodafone Ireland.

We know from last week's announcement that 300 jobs in customer care in both Dublin and Dundalk are being moved to Northern Ireland without proper consultation and which will result in significant job losses. This, in turn, will have an adverse effect on the quality of life of workers' families and the local economies in Dublin and Dundalk. It is quite obvious to senior Vodafone management that workers who are currently based in Dublin and Dundalk will not be a position to relocate to Newry. According to Mr. Terry Delany, the deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, who is making strenuous efforts to help save these jobs, this decision made by Vodafone has been callous and he has accused Vodafone of "exporting jobs in the blind pursuit of an increased bottom line".

This is an appalling situation and it flies against the spirit of the Government's jobs strategy which is to create and retain jobs in the Republic. This is clearly a strategy of corporate greed being adopted by Vodafone Ireland in moving these jobs from the Republic when one considers the amount of profit Vodafone is making here. My research indicates that Vodafone is Ireland's leading communications provider with 2.45 million customers across mobile, fixed line and DSL. At 30 September 2011, Vodafone Ireland's mobile telecoms base was 2.22 million. The company continues to benefit from a profitable market in Ireland and has repatriated €2.2 billion in profits on its Irish operations to its parent group over the past decade. Vodafone Ireland also continues to enjoy one of the lowest corporation tax rates on company profits available anywhere in the world so I ask why it is taking this course of action.

I ask both the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, to intervene urgently and to meet senior management with a view to saving the 300 jobs currently under threat.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this most important matter to the significant workforce in Dundalk and in Dublin. A total of 193 employees, both part-time and full-time, in Dundalk will be directly affected by this proposal to move employees to Teleperformance. It has been suggested they may go to Newry or to Dublin but the fear is that they may be moved to Newry. The local economy benefits to the tune of approximately €4.5 million annually from the salaries and payments coming from Vodafone in Dundalk. This equates to some €90,000 a week coming into the local economy. Jobs in the services sector will also be affected because of the reduced spending power of employees at a time when the domestic economy is quite flat. The employees comprise of married and single people and many have mortgage responsibilities. I refer to a letter from one employee, Mr. Pickering, who stated he had bills to pay and he planned to be married soon. He has been informed his team is moving to Dublin but he does not drive and it is 50 miles to Dublin from Dundalk. He has been working in Vodafone for nearly ten years and he now faces a dilemma. The workers have been told that in September or October of this year, there will be nobody left in the building.

Dundalk town has already been devastated by job losses. I welcome the news that PayPal will create significant employment in Dundalk but Vodafone has provided invaluable employment in the town. I appeal to the Minister of State to take a serious look at the underlying reasons for the proposal to move either to Newry or to an alternative location. This has profound implications for the local Dundalk economy and it will undermine the confidence of those who might be contemplating setting up in the town. I ask the Minister of State to meet with the union representatives and also the public representatives in the constituency to discuss the details of this issue to impress on Vodafone the necessity to reconsider the decision and to ensure it does not happen again.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I thank Deputies Nash, Terence Flanagan and Kirk for raising this matter. This is the second time in the space of a year that Vodafone and its operations have become the subject of a Topical Issue Debate in this House.

I am very conscious of the anxiety that the proposed transfer of the 290 agency posts and 27 direct Vodafone posts to Teleperformance creates for the workers and their families, as well as the local communities.

Vodafone Ireland announced on Thursday, 22 March that it had completed a review of the company's current contracted mobile call-centre operations. The company has stated that following this review, it will be adopting a new model for its mobile customer care, resulting in a move to a new provider, Teleperformance, which is headquartered in Newry. Rigney Dolphin was the previous provider of this service at Vodafone's offices in Dundalk. I am informed that Teleperformance currently provides a variety of care and support services to the Vodafone Group in a range of other markets, including the UK. I understand that this change has arisen out of Vodafone's ongoing review of customer care. As part of the changes, 27 Vodafone roles and 290 contract roles currently provided by Rigney Dolphin, will transfer to Teleperformance. I am informed that the transfer will be under a transfer of undertakings, protection of employment arrangement. I understand that Vodafone Ireland and Rigney Dolphin are currently entering a six-week consultation process with employee representatives, prior to the new arrangements taking effect. and that at the end of this period, Vodafone envisages there will be a direct transfer to Teleperformance of these employees within their current roles. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this point. Rigney Dolphin will remain a provider to Vodafone Ireland for its call centre sales and fixed care functions. I hope that the parties concerned will use this period to ensure there is meaningful dialogue about the company's proposals.

It is a core priority of the Government to retain and create the maximum number of jobs in the State. I would strongly encourage the parties in this case to explore to the fullest extent, whatever possibilities remain to retain jobs in the State. If there is anything that the Government or its agencies can meaningfully do to assist in this regard, there will be no hesitation on our part. Notwithstanding the ongoing efforts on minimising the impact of the Vodafone decision, I wish to assure the House that the State enterprise agencies, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, and Louth County Enterprise Board, will continue to make every effort possible to develop new employee opportunities for Dundalk.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I know he is very familiar with this issue, having first discussed it with me and other Deputies in Louth last summer, in respect of the announcement by Vodafone at that stage regarding jobs in Dundalk. If workers are to transfer to Newry, there will be personal taxation and PRSI implications for them and for the State. My understanding is that their tax liabilities will be paid in that jurisdiction. I have been working on this issue for the past week. Most, if not all, the workers would prefer to see their taxation going towards the provision of local schools, hospitals and other services. I implore the Minister of State to closely examine the call and support centre sector which is at risk. By its very nature this is a footloose industry and an industry which has tended to look to lower cost economies in recent years. A significant number of people are employed in the call and support centre sector and it is incumbent on us to support them as best we can. In a globalised economy companies will make decisions based on their own bottom line. We have an obligation to our citizens to protect their jobs, their terms and conditions and to ensure they and their companies have a future in this State. I ask the Minister of State to take on that challenge with other relevant Ministers and carry out a comprehensive review, looking at the underlying factors, in order to ensure this does not happen again.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is obvious that Vodafone is taking advantage of the recession. It stripped away 140 jobs last May that went to India and Egypt. Now there the announcment of 22 March and this 300 staff. Coming down the track is the threat of the loss of another 200 jobs, concerning which the union has not got assurances. Perhaps the Minister of State can follow this up and meet the management, if he has not already done so. What is going on is very serious. It sets a very bad precedent, or example, for other companies. It strips away staff while at the same time taking advantage of the market and the low corporation taxes in the Republic.

All in all, this is extremely worrying. The company has a moral duty to retain as many staff as it can in the Republic, given its profit centre in this country and the amount of moneys it has achieved here. In regard to Teleperformance, will the Minister of State find out whether the company is receiving any grant aid from the Newry Chamber of Commerce? Perhaps that issue can be raised with his counterpart there.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I exhort the Minister of State to request a meeting with the management of Vodafone to discuss the details of this matter. As other speakers indicated, this is the second time there have been such job losses in Dundalk, as there were previously in Dublin. The mobility and flexibility concerned have profound implications for people who have to make mortgage arrangements and have normal family expenses to meet, week in, week out. They need some sense of security. We must address this issue, even now when there are very high levels of unemployment and the creation of jobs is clearly difficult. Those in employment are entitled to have a sense of security in that employment. Given the volatility that apparently applies in the call centre area in general, there is a need to look at this issue and to sit down with management, anticipate any problems that may be coming down the tracks and exhort and encourage companies to reverse decisions such as this one.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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A number of issues have been raised. I have no problem in principle with the Members from counties Louth and Dublin seeking a meeting with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, about this matter. In the first instance, there are national and strategic issues in regard to the precarious nature of call centre jobs. There is the issue of the transfer of undertakings from one company to another operating on behalf of Vodafone - as a global corporate entity, one might say. There is the issue of corporate social responsibility and there is the actual worry people have. Deputy Kirk referred to Mr. Pickering and whether the issue of mobility arises in his particular circumstances.

I will relay this message to the Minister. My instinct is that if the Members present who have a concern were to seek a meeting with him these issues might be teased out further.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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We would welcome the opportunity to meet the Minister. If the Minister of State were to set the arrangements in train, I am sure the Members involved and other Members in the constituencies would go along.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Perhaps the Minister could meet with the management as a matter of urgency to try to progress this issue.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister of State has given his reply so we must move on.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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If the Members present who raised the issue are willing to meet the Minister, I will make that request of him. Let us see where we go from there. I thank the Ceann Comhairle.