The Dáil Public Accounts Committee is to review the contract for video and audio coverage of Oireachtas proceedings as it emerged that 13 of the broadcast unit’s employees will have to sign on for the dole for the summer recess.
Sinn Féin’s John Brady, who chairs the committee, said they will call in the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which has responsibility for running Leinster House, when proceedings resume in autumn “with specific focus in relation to broadcast workers in the Oireachtas”.
Last month more than 160 TDs and Senators, including four Ministers of State, signed a letter to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. They cited a “compelling case” for it directly to employ the 10 full-time and 20 part-time professional broadcast workers providing the coverage, “given the extremely concerning working conditions and pay issues”. They called for a value-for-money review of the contract.
The Ministers of State included super junior Minister Hildegarde Naughton, Jerry Buttimer and Neale Richmond of Fine Gael along with Fianna Fáil’s Niall Collins.
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The workers are among a team of 10 full-time and 20 part-time employees of an outside contractor who broadcast live feeds of the Dáil, Seanad and 28 Oireachtas committees and oversee the archiving of all feeds.
A new contract for coverage is set to go for tender in the coming months, with the current contract held by Pi Communications, which provides a similar service to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The company was selected by the Oireachtas in 2011 as the private contractor to provide the service following a competitive open tender and it has been reappointed twice.
The contract operates on a pay-per-public-minute of broadcast, which means the company receives no payments during recess periods.
In a statement Pi Communications said: “We are aware of a lobbying campaign by some part-time employees involved in the Oireachtas contract who wish to become full-time civil servants and who have engaged in ill-informed criticism of their employment terms to further that objective.
“For the avoidance of doubt, rates of pay of all part-time staff supporting this contract are regularly benchmarked against industry norms and their total earnings are proportionate to the overall work undertaken throughout the year.
“All staff have pension entitlements, receive sick leave and sick pay. They are also free to work on other projects or for other employers and most do.
“No complaints or concerns have been raised by any Pi Comms staff involved in servicing any other contract we support, illustrating that this is a policy and not Pi Comms matter.”
Salaries of Pi Comms part-time employees are said to be equivalent to full-time roles of about €40,000 to €60,000 at entry level and the company has said workers benefit from attractive bonus arrangements and paid leave.
But one employee set to go on the dole, who did not wish to be identified, claimed there was no bonus schemes in place for their group, adding that “paid annual leave is a legal requirement, not a discretionary benefit and is only calculated at 8 per cent of hours worked”.
A freedom of information response from the Oireachtas finance unit to employees revealed a total payment to Pi Communications from January 1st, 2011, to June 9th, 2025, of €28.77 million including VAT. This included “the purchase of hardware and equipment on behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas”.
Siptu, which represents the 13 affected employees, has been contacted for comment.
