I am an Irish national living in Australia for the past 12 years and want to invest in Telecom Eireann stocks when they list in July. Can I do this? I assume there are many ex-pats, who would also be keen to invest, especially if, like me, they are probably returning home. How do I go about getting a prospectus and/or application form.

Mr E.K., Sydney

You are quite right that there is considerable interest in this flotation from Irish nationals living abroad.

The situation with eligibility for the share offer is slightly confusing. The initial statement from the company, when it announced details of the flotation, was that the retail share offer - that is the open share offer to the general public - was open only to those over the age of 18 with an address in the Republic. There was an additional provision allowing relatives to purchase shares on behalf of minors.

This would appear to rule out anyone, like yourself, living abroad. However, I know that anyone can apply to buy shares in any jurisdiction. There are problems with international securities law which I shall deal with further next week but it appears you would be legally entitled to buy shares if you so chose.

What is more of a problem is the registration process. This is certainly restricted to people with an address in the Republic. As it is only an expression of interest and not a contract to purchase, the Government and the group have much more freedom in how they limit the process. However, given that the registration process is designed to give priority in share allocation to those who register and that the offer is certain to be oversubscribed, you could lose out on any subsequent purchase by not being registered at this stage.

As it stands, therefore, my best advice would be to apply using an Irish address, if one is available to you to register your interest in the shares. This registration process closes to the general public on May 28th, so you will need to move fast. It operates by mail and phone. If you do register your interest, any prospectus and/or application form will be sent to the Irish address you give on registration.

One final point, there is a fraud auditor appointed to the flotation to ensure people are who they say they are. This will be more relevant at the application stage than upon registration but people should be aware of its existence.

Telecom investors need Irish address, opposite page

Former staff

My husband was a Telecom worker for 44 years. He was a technician in the old telephone exchanges for many years and was there when they changed over to computerisation. He retired in 1991 and died in 1995. I don't know of any Telecom pensioners, who are getting any recognition of the fact that they contributed to the present value of Telecom Eireann although there was talk some weeks ago that they should benefit? Is there any chance of retired Telecom personnel and their families being recognised?

Mrs P.O'S., Dublin

Once again, it is a case of the forgotten pensioners. You are quite right when you say that it appears no special provision has yet been made for those people who contributed to the current value of the company but who are no longer in the employ of the group.

Is this fair? Frankly, I don't think so but I think the pensioners' beef is essentially with the union which represented them through their years at Telecom and which has negotiated a 5 per cent stake in the company on behalf of its members to reflect their work in achieving the current value of the company.

This is, of course, separate from the additional stake of almost 10 per cent, the purchase of which the union has negotiated in return for certain changes in work practices. I can only suggest that you or the association which represents Telecom pensioners and their survivors approach the unions to argue their case for inclusion in any handout.

Separately, I am aware that the Government has made no decision on shares for the 9,000 or so pensioners but is actively looking to see what can be done. If anything is possible, it is likely to involve a special allocation for pensioners but shares in any such allocation would almost certainly be at the full flotation price. It might allow pensioners to buy more shares than the general public, but how many would have the money to do so?

Registration

I have encountered difficulties in registering for the Telecom Eireann share offer. I rang the Freefone number to register both myself and my daughter. The line was poor and it was difficult to be sure all the details had been correctly taken. A few days later I rang back to check and again had difficulty hearing the agent dealing with me. The details for neither of us were correctly recorded; in fact, my daughter's were not logged at all. This was rectified. Subsequently, I received the promised information pack but not for my daughter. I rang again and found none of our details were traceable. What can I do to ensure we are correctly recorded on the system?

Mr W.O'D., Dublin

For reasons of space, I have somewhat distilled the details of your letter, but your point remains how you can ensure your details and those of your daughter are correctly recorded to allow you priority in the eventual share offer.

There are a couple of points. First, if you have received an information pack, there is no doubt that your details are recorded. The pack would not be sent without such details being in the system. It may be that there is some glitch in the system which does not enable the people manning the Freefone to trace details of those who have already received the pack, although this would be unusual. However, this is an unusual offer and the public interest has been huge, so it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that problems have occurred.

There have been some backlogs in getting details processed by the data entry operators. Also the number of applications has been unexpectedly strong in the early part of the registration period. This is now likely to level off. With regard to your daughter, there is no doubt that she should also receive an information pack even if she is a minor. The top line of the address will be your name and the second line will be hers.

I can understand your concern as the registration period comes to a close next Friday. If you still have any doubts, or your daughter's pack has not arrived, I would suggest that you contact the share information office via the Freefone helpline and ask to speak to the Special Inquiry Unit. This has been set up specifically to deal with complicated queries, complaints or issues which cannot easily and quickly be handled by the people manning the Freefone lines.

Remember it is not in Telecom's interest to be actively frustrating people in their effort to register. It wants as much interest as possible and, to be fair, this is the first complaint of this kind I have heard.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times , Fleet Street, Dublin 2 or email to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.