Paul Murphy TD calls for ‘greedy’ Sky to drop legal action against dodgy box users
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has called on Sky to drop its recently approved legal campaign against hundreds of Irish users of illicit TV streaming devices, known locally as "dodgy boxes." A High Court ruling has given Sky access to user details as part of a crackdown on illegal content distribution. Murphy frames the issue as a structural failure of media economics rather than consumer criminality, saying many users resort to piracy because they are "being ripped off" by multiple subscription platforms and the TV licence system. He criticises what he calls the "defunding and privatisation" of public broadcasting, which he argues has handed effective control of cultural access to profit‑driven corporations such as Sky. While acknowledging copyright concerns and the impact on people working in film and TV, Murphy contends the current subscription‑walled model "doesn’t work for artists" either, as large media companies "build walls around content" and set prohibitive prices. He stresses that dodgy‑box users are typically lower‑income households and "not mastermind criminals," and accuses Sky of trying to "make an example" of ordinary viewers through the courts. As an alternative, People Before Profit’s 2026 budget proposal calls for €1 billion in additional public‑broadcasting funding, to be raised via taxes on large social‑media and ICT corporations, enabling multiple public broadcasters to provide high‑quality, freely available cultural content outside the commercial subscription model.
