Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Murphy calls for an end to O2's discrimination against Irish speakers.

Published: 29 May, 2009

Newry and Armagh Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy has called on the mobile phone company O2 to explain why consumers can not register with the company using the Gaelic versions of their names and addresses.

Mr Murphy said,

"I have been contacted by an O2 customer who informed me that he received a text message from O2 asking if he wanted 4 free SIM cards; all he had to do was text them back with his name and address. The man did this using his name, which is in Irish and his postal address which is also in Irish, he was contacted again by O2 telling him that the details supplied by him were not acceptable. I find this attitude both racist and unacceptable. I wonder if his name had been French or Chinese would O2 have reacted in this fashion? I believe that O2 owes this man and the general Irish speaking fraternity an apology.

"O2 needs to realize that under equality legislation, the Good Friday Agreement and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, citizens have the right to use the correct Gaelic version of their names and addresses in all correspondence. In many areas of the North street names are officially bi-lingual. Royal Mail has no problem delivering post addressed in the Irish language to homes so long as the postal code is correct. It is therefore difficult to understand why it should present a problem to O2.

"Other mobile phone companies in Ireland are actively working with the Gaelic speaking community, some companies even providing predictive texting in Irish, amongst other initiatives.

"I call on O2 to urgently clarify why they are discriminating against Irish speaking citizens or if this is a simple oversight. I will be writing to the company seeking an explanation for this discriminatory practice and demanding that this issue be rectified as soon as possible." CRÍOCH