Eir announces plans to cut 750 staff after takeover by French

EIR has announced plans to cut its staff by 750 employees in the wake of its takeover by communications firms owned by a French billionaire. The former State-owned telecoms giant said the workforce is being downsized in ‘an effort to deliver cost savings and create a leaner, more agile organisation’.

It said the cuts would be achieved through voluntary redundancy.

In a statement yesterday, Eir said staff eligible for voluntary redundancy ‘have already or will shortly receive correspondence with a personalised financial estimate for their consideration’.

Earlier this week, a near twothirds stake in Eir was sold to French communications companies NJJ Telecom Europe and Iliad, in a deal valued at an estimated €650million.

NJJ is a private investment firm owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel, who also owns 52% of Iliad.

Iliad is also the parent company of the entrepreneur’s French network Free, the country’s second most popular internet service provider and third most popular mobile network.

Existing shareholders Anchorage Capital Group and Davidson Kempner will maintain their 35.5% share of Eir.

The company said the downsiz- ing would not affect its ‘ability to deliver on its recent contractual commitments’ relating to the provision of rural broadband to 300,000 homes.

The ‘voluntary incentivised exit scheme’ being offered to some of the company’s 3,225 employees includes five weeks’ wages for each of the workers’ years of service, with caps to be applied in terms of age and salary.

It’s understood the redundancies will be targeted at those in the company’s chain of shops, as well as in its finance and marketing departments.

However, it is also understood that none of its nationwide stores will close.

In response to the announcement, the general secretary of the Communications Workers’ Union, Steve Fitzpatrick, said the group would engage with Eir ‘to ensure that proper arrangements are put in place to cover work once the scheme takes effect’.

This is not the first time that the company has made cuts to its staff, as more than 2,000 employees have left the former state telecoms firm in recent years.

Even though the redundancies are expected to be achieved on a voluntary basis, the news sparked a concerned reaction from some politicians.

Fianna Fáil communications spokesperson Timmy Dooley said that the announcement represented a ‘dark day for the 750 employees and their families, and my thoughts go out to them’.

‘Eir need to provide reassurance about the redundancy package available for those affected,’ he said.

‘The shedding of almost a quarter of the company’s workforce comes just two months after Eir decided to pull out from the tender process for the National Broadband Plan.’

This, combined with the takeover, ‘raises very serious questions about the new owners’ commitment to Ireland and their customers in Ireland’, he added.

‘Major blow’ to the sector