Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Virgin Media describes itself on its website as "the leading connected entertainment cable and broadcast business [that offers] multi award-winning services including broadband, TV, mobile and home phone" to consumers and businesses in Ireland. I gather Virgin Media is also now offering union busting at no extra cost, unless of course one happens to be one of the 400 employees in its call centre in Limerick. Management has decided to run roughshod over a collective agreement reached in 2008. It has ignored a Labour Court recommendation for a pay increase and is apparently trying to tear up an agreement on redundancy payments. I heard a horror story this morning of employees being told that they were being made redundant and that they could sign up to the company's new offer, which is half that of the old offer agreed with the union, by 5 p.m. that day or else just receive statutory payments.That is what is happening in Virgin Media today. Somehow, I doubt it will be covered on "The Tonight Show". Staff voted overwhelmingly for industrial action. It is an appalling way to treat people at any time, but particularly in an age when one would expect media companies to treat people with respect. It is part of a bigger story in terms of what is happening in communications and media. I understand the staff, apart from being very angry, are absolutely resolute in resisting the imposition of redundancies and the refusal to implement a Labour Court pay increase, and have voted to take industrial action up to and including strike action. I call on Virgin Media to act as a responsible employer and sit down and engage meaningfully with its staff, rather than head into the industrial chaos which will follow.

I want to raise the related issue of Lyric FM. It has been discussed in recent weeks but we have heard nothing since. I spoke to Lyric FM staff today who told me they still have not received any information from RTÉ about the projected cost savings in Limerick. From an industrial relations point of view, that is completely unacceptable. We seem to have an agreement across the Chamber that it is wrong to close the Lyric FM office in Limerick, yet RTÉ is not sharing the proposed cost savings because they amount to a hill of beans. We need political responsibility and I call on the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Richard Bruton, to come to the Chamber and explain where he stands on the issue of closing Lyric FM in Limerick. It is not good enough for him to fold his hands and say it is up to RTÉ. The people of Limerick will not stand for it.