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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Louise Burne

Taoiseach slates 'unacceptable' Twitter behaviour as Dublin office remains closed

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has branded Twitter’s recent behaviour as “unacceptable” as he sympathised with employees over their “uncertain futures”.

Twitter temporarily closed its offices in Dublin and in other global locations on Friday morning.

New CEO Elon Must has told employees that they either have a choice to work more intense hours as part of a bid to build a more “hardcore” Twitter or to quit their jobs.

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If they decide to leave, employees will receive three months of severance pay.

It has been suggested that the ultimatum has led to a swathe of resignations.

Speaking in Newry on Friday morning, the Taoiseach said that Twitter's actions were unacceptable and that all Irish Employment Right Laws will apply to actions taken by the company.

“It is very concerning what we're hearing overnight,” Mr Martin said.

“The IDA is in constant contact with the company. It is very concerning for the employees in particular.

“Employees of any company must be treated with respect and dignity. That's what our legal framework governing industrial relations demands. It's the most basic requirement of any enterprise that people are treated with dignity and respect.

A deserted Twitter HQ on Fenian Street, Dublin 2, on the day staff were to learn whether their jobs were safe or not following Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform (Mick O'Neill)

“It's unacceptable what's happening within Twitter in terms of employees who must have very uncertain futures.

“There's a need for coherence and there is a need for a clear roadmap ahead in terms of Twitter, globally. And then in terms of the various locations, such as Dublin where Twitter have employees.

“We will work with all employees to see what we can do to help and to be of assistance.

“Or [Irish] laws will apply.”

Mr Martin previously slated Mr Musk saying that no matter who a person was, they needed to treat people with “dignity and respect”.

It is still unclear how many jobs will be lost at Twitter’s Dublin office which employs 500 people.

The impending job losses come at a worrying time for the Irish job sector, with further redundancies expected in Meta, Stripe and Amazon in the coming months.

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