The European Connection

Hannibal_12

Would complaints to the EU be of any use in giving the Government a swift kick and subsequently Eircom as well.
http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/mailbox/form_en.htm

dahamsta

I think it's time to be honest, because I don't think the government are going to follow up on this soon without pressure from above. The EU is very keen on IT, and they would be very unhappy to see laggards in the Union. They're already well aware of the problems within Ireland, but I remain fully convinced that the more letters of complaint they receive, the more they'll be inclined to push the Irish government.

Also, a very important factor is that the EU actually reads and responds to email communications[1], unlike the Irish Government, or at least the Irish Government in my experience. An example being my email to Erkii Liikanen, the Information Society DG Commissioner, which was answered, and shortly thereafter lodged as an official complaint. Whereas my email to Simon Coveney, TD - my local TD I might add - has gone utterly ignored.

However, I don't think going through a generic contact form on the Europa site is a very good idea. The EU is notoriously bureaucratic, and who knows how long it will take to get to the right person. So I'm providing some links below:

Information Society DG contact page

Competition DG mailbox

Erkii Liikanen has his own webpage on the ISDG website, and I presume Mario Monti (Competition DG) has one too (can't find it).

Please, keep it polite and to the point. Think about what you're writing. If you need help, ask.

adam

[1] Except, I presume, idiocies like "irish comms are crap".

SkepticOne

Originally posted by dahamsta
I think it's time to be honest, because I don't think the government are going to follow up on this soon without pressure from above. The EU is very keen on IT, and they would be very unhappy to see laggards in the Union. They're already well aware of the problems within Ireland, but I remain fully convinced that the more letters of complaint they receive, the more they'll be inclined to push the Irish government.

Eircom and its 'robust' approach to regulation and national interest gives a certain example to larger encumbent telcos in Europe. This is something I think the Commission care about as much as the effect Eircom has on a relatively small peripheral country. If Ireland's predicament was to occur in the larger core European countries, what would be the effect?

This angle might be used in some letters.

Side note: The EU weren't happy with the current Government's approach to budget spending but it was commented on at the time that this was mainly so that a bad example would not be set for countries like Italy which are at the core of the European identity. I've got a feeling that we're going to get a lot of "told you so" statements in the next couple of years!