CEO whose comments led to outcry has left Eir

THE chief executive of Eir, who made critical comments to an Oireachtas committee in relation to the company’s customer care centre in Sligo, which caused a storm of criticism at the time, is moving on from her post with the telecommunications company.

Carolan Lennon made comments connected to Sligo on an RTÉ Prime Time programme and at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications Networks the following day in late 2020.

Her comments unleashed a wave of criticism locally, with Dáil deputies and others defending workers at the centre and condemning the comments from Lennon.

Subsequently the CEO said the telecommunications company was “committed to Sligo” and its customer care service centre in Rathedmond. Lennon said that when she spoke of mistakes made in relation to Sligo, she wished to clarify that she was referring to mistakes she and her management team made in “underestimating the complexities of building a care centre on a greenfield site”.

At the Oireachtas Committee, responding to questions about issues Eir had faced in managing call centres during the pandemic, she spoke about the challenges in hiring and training new care agents, and establishing a new business operation.

Lennon told the committee that it took “longer” to train employees in the county because they were not familiar with working in a call centre. “There was no history of contact centres in Sligo before we got there, which meant that when we were hiring local staff, and people travelling from the environs, local staff, many of them came in from retail or hospitality. That was a challenge, it took us longer to train them,” she added. Lennon made similar comments about the location of the call centre in Sligo on RTÉ’s Prime Time the night before.

Local TD Frank Feighan said at the time that he had received phone calls “from irate staff at Eir and from the business community in Sligo who are concerned about the consequences of such comments on future investment from call centre companies” in the region.

“I will be writing to the CEO as, after speaking with local stakeholders on the ground in Sligo, I don’t believe the comments made about Sligo to be accurate,” Mr Feighan said.

He said other call centres that operate from Sligo or Leitrim have not experienced the same “issues” as Eir. Fellow Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry said the Eir management team “need to front up admit when they’re wrong, admit when service is poor, and support their staff”. He added that he felt the staff in Sligo were entitled to an apology from the management team.

Earlier this week, Eir, announcing the appointment of Oliver Loomes as its chief executive officer-designate, praised Lennon’s contribution to the company.

Xavier Niel, director at Eir and chairman of NJJ Holdings, majority owner of Eir, said: “When we acquired Eir in 2018 we saw an urgent need to transform the company into a true market leader, not only offering our customers superb choice and value, but to invest in building the foundations for long-term future success. “Carolan’s four years as CEO have been marked by extraordinary progress on this journey, not just in terms of financial results and customer growth, but in innovation.

“Her dedication has driven Eir to its strongest position yet, and the company owes her a great gratitude for her tireless commitment and superb leadership.”