There is uncertainty surrounding the future of about 140 IT jobs at Eir after the telco told the workers it is considering moving their roles to an outside contractor.

Erik Slooten, Eir’s chief information oficer, told the staff that a decision had not yet been made on their future.

One of the options under consideration is to effectively outsource the functions of the 140 staff to an outside company, which could rehire the workers on a managed services contract.

It is believed that Eir has already started talking to potential outside contractors in relation to transferring the functions, which include certain roles connected to the billing system and dealing with outside suppliers, amongst others.

IBM and an Indian third-party contractor are among those to have held discussions with Eir over potentially taking on the functions.

Eir has not yet formally engaged with trade unions on its plan, although it has informally briefed workers’ representatives on the situation.

It is understood that the staff potentially affected are members of the Communications Worlers Union (CWU) and the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU), which retain members in the administration grades of the former State-owned telco.

Union officials were scheduled to meet with affected members this afternoon.