Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)

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.

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