Oireachtas offers €8m contract for broadcasting of Dáil proceedings 

The new tender is of note given an industrial dispute which has sprung up amidst the workers who manage the live broadcast of all Dáil, Seanad, and committee proceedings
Oireachtas offers €8m contract for broadcasting of Dáil proceedings 

Jack Chambers delivers Budget 2025 on Oireachtas TV. PI Communications, which also provides broadcast services for the Northern Irish assembly, has held the contract for Dáil broadcasts since at least 2011. Picture: Oireachtas TV

The Oireachtas is to pay more than €8m for the broadcast of Dáil and Seanad proceedings over the next four years.

The Houses of the Oireachtas service has tendered for a new contract for the provision of recording and archival services with a value of €8,050,000.

The move was expected given the recent expiry of the previous deal with PI Communications. However, the new contract will be a year shorter than the previous deal, and worth roughly €1m more.

The new tender is of particular note given an industrial dispute which has sprung up amidst the 20 or so workers who manage the live broadcast of all Dáil, Seanad, and committee proceedings from within Leinster House.

That team claims that they are currently being paid half the standard industry rate for comparable roles and have called on the Government and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission — which manages the contract — to take action to ensure they are "treated with the fairness and respect we deserve".

The new tender calls for the “provision of management, operation, maintenance, and development of technical facilities re the televising and streaming of parliamentary proceedings and the Oireachtas TV channel over a period of four years”.

The contract also requires the enhancement and expansion of sign language coverage of Oireachtas proceedings and the further development of live subtitling for all hearings in progress.

Pay dispute

PI Communications, which also provides broadcast services for the Northern Irish assembly, has held the contract for Dáil broadcasts since at least 2011.

The company has insisted that the rates of pay it offers part-time staff for the Oireachtas broadcast work “are regularly benchmarked against industry norms and their total earnings are proportionate to the overall work undertaken throughout the year”.

It has said it is “constrained in commenting publicly on client contractual matters and because we are currently engaged in trade union negotiations with staff with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission”.

Last June at least 125 TDs and senators sent a letter to the Oireachtas Commission calling for it to directly employ the broadcast workers rather than tendering for a private service.

Liam Quaide, the Cork Social Democrats TD who drafted that letter, said of the new contract that the process “is an opportunity for a fairer model of employment to be implemented while adhering to value for money principles”.

Last month clerk of the Dáil Peter Finnegan told the Public Accounts Committee that the cost of directly employing the broadcast workers would be exorbitant.

“It's almost unheard of for an issue to unite Oireachtas members across the political spectrum as has the pay and conditions of the broadcast workers over the last term,” Mr Quaide said.

“The continued depiction by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission of these contracts as value for money has been very dispiriting."

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