BT seeks voluntary redundancies from Irish operation

Telecoms group BT Ireland is seeking voluntary redundancies from its 3,000-strong workforce in Ireland. Sources said BT wants to reduce its head count by about 100 but the company declined to comment on how many it hopes to achieve over the next fortnight.

It is understood that expressions of interest are being sought by Friday of this week. Staff would then be expected to accept offers by February 21st.

Workers are being offered one month of pay per year of service, capped at nine months.

Cross-Border
The redundancies are being sought north and south of the Border. BT is the incumbent in Northern Ireland but focuses largely on wholesale and business services in the Republic. For example, British satellite TV company Sky piggybacks on BT's network to offer broadband and phone services here.

Commenting on the redundancies, a spokeswoman for BT Ireland said: “BT operates a voluntary leaver programme, which is currently open for employees to avail of.

“This is a scheme offered from time to time, allowing employees to explore new career or life opportunities.

“We are very satisfied with how our Ireland business is performing currently.

"Our most recent results [published two weeks ago] showed a solid set of results for the previous quarter and we are enjoying growth across both our north and south operations."

Underlying revenue
BT Ireland's underlying revenue grew by 3 per cent in the first nine months of its trading year, although no figure was published.

"We continued to grow our core business in the Republic of Ireland in Q3, securing new contracts with major enterprises, including a five-year deal with the Ardagh Group in December 2013," the company added.