Move to fill 130 Cork jobs at Abtran
The jobs were announced by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, and Abtran said that recruitment for the positions is to begin immediately.
“I’m delighted to welcome these new jobs in Cork where Sky has chosen Abtran as its business process partner for customer service operations,” Mr Coveney said in a statement.
“Both companies are leaders in their respective industry sectors and both are committed to the highest standards of quality and customer service delivery.
“I particularly welcome the continuing growth of Abtran, which is a deeply innovative and impressive Irish business and I wish both companies ongoing success in the future.”
JD Buckley, managing director of Sky Ireland, said its customer contact centres “play an integral role in meeting customer requirements”.
“We’re really pleased to continue our growth and development through this partnership with Abtran, which further adds to our strong commitment to provide the highest standards of service for all of our customers throughout Ireland,” he said.
Michael Fitzgerald, CEO of Abtran, said the company “places our clients’ brand and customers at the centre of everything we do, making services easier and more accessible”.
“We look forward to supporting Sky’s ongoing business growth with top quality customer service,” he said.
Established in 1997, Abtran already employs more than 2,000 people across Dublin and Cork, and its clients include Aviva, Irish Water, and Electric Ireland.
The company’s handling of Irish Water was recently raised in the Dáil by Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, who said there were “obvious questions of probity” in awarding the contract to Abtran given what she described as “high-profile failings” on the part of the company in its work on processing student grant applications through the Susi system.
Ms Murphy discovered, via the Freedom of Information Act, that the criteria for the firm to which the contract would be awarded was to have a proven track record.
“Given the criteria, is the Tánaiste satisfied that despite the very public failings of Abtran on Susi and the property tax that it was still awarded an extremely lucrative contract by the State?” she asked in the Dáil last Thursday.
