Taoiseach's office can't operate voicemail due to bombardment by 'phone picket' protests

Darragh Mc Donagh

The Office of An Taoiseach cannot operate a voicemail service because it is being bombarded by coordinated ‘phone pickets’ organised by protest groups and activists, Micheál Martin has said.

Phone pickets are a form of protest or advocacy in which groups seek to overwhelm a phone system and disrupt business with large volumes of calls relating to a particular issue.

A number of these pickets have targeted the Taoiseach’s office in recent months in relation to Palestine, with advocacy groups providing participants with speaking points and instructing them to call “at least three times” every two hours.

The bombardment has meant that the office cannot provide a voicemail service for members of the public, and calls are going unanswered while phone pickets are underway, according to Mr Martin.

“The Taoiseach’s office can, from time to time, be the subject of phone pickets,” he said.

“The volume of calls to the Taoiseach’s office increases significantly on days when phone pickets take place. Given that the Taoiseach’s office is subject to phone pickets, it is not feasible to operate a voicemail service in that office.”

Mr Martin said his staff “answer as many calls as they can” while the office is being targeted, but calls do go unanswered.

The pickets also have a knock-on effect on the level of written correspondence received by the office, he added, because members of the public resort to email or other forms of contact when the phone lines are busy.

“The telephony system used by the Department of An Taoiseach includes voicemail functionality and voicemail is used extensively by staff across the department,” Mr Martin said in response to a parliamentary question from Labour TD Ciarán Ahern.

However, this has to remain deactivated for the main external telephone lines to the Office of An Taoiseach due to the occurrence of phone pickets, he explained.

“The Taoiseach’s office receives a high volume of calls daily on issues of public concern and the Taoiseach’s private secretary is made aware of matters raised,” added Mr Martin.

“Members of the public who contact the Taoiseach’s office by telephone are also routinely requested to email or write to the office with full details of the issue they wish to raise if that is deemed to be a more appropriate means of conveying the information.

“This practice is in place to ensure that the official record reflects the issue or concern as documented by the individual raising the matter, and not a third-party interpretation of their issue or concern.”