Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise an issue that has been raised a number of times, namely, cases involving multinational utilities companies, such as Eir and Sky, where people try to break a contract or stop making payments for one reason or another. On telephone services, I have been contacted by someone who has a number of mobile phones and is trying to eliminate some of the mobile contracts but cannot get through to Eir. Other people cannot get through to Sky. They cannot cancel contracts and the money continues to be taken out of their bank accounts. In some cases, people who have cancelled direct debits are being fleeced with bank charges for not honouring a contract. Something needs to be done to address this, whether that is bringing in the relevant Minister or contacting ComReg. ComReg has a major role to play in this and it should make an example of some of these companies. How does it deal with such issues? Does it deal mainly with big issues? What about the ordinary person on the street? Does ComReg have any time for the ordinary person on the street who is frustrated because he or she cannot contact a utility? Some of these cases date back to January, February and March and the individuals in question still cannot contact the company that provides the utility, telephone service or whatever. I ask that the Acting Leader bring a Minister to the House to deal with this issue or that we contact ComReg and send a strong message from this House that it must deal with this issue.