These are trying times for Eircom shareholders and one Family Money reader, a small shareholder, says he is extremely angered by the likelihood of being forced to sell his shares at a very low rate. Mr Kevin Shelley from Dublin says he has been given no choice.

"It would appear that most retail shareholders purchased these shares for long-term rather than for short-term gains. Some 400,000 investors have no say in the sale of this company." Mr Shelley suggests that most of these shareholders have their landline phone accounts with Eircom.

"Therefore, if the sale of the company goes through, as proposed, there is the option of transferring our custom from Eircom to one or other of their competitors.

"While Eircom will continue to enjoy revenue from telephone line rentals, they will lose it from phone call charges. This would amount to a considerable sum of money. The threat of this would make the company a less attractive option for any of the current prospective purchasers.

"In recent weeks I have heard commentators suggest that our communications system was too valuable to be sold off at a bargain-basement price. It has also been suggested that the assets would be sweated by the new owners and very little capital investment would be made in the company.

"This would result in a very run-down system. Clearly, this is not in the interest of this country."

Mr Shelley asks if it would not make good sense for the Government to buy back the company "to avoid the problem of it degenerating into a second-rate outfit".