UNITE activists dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge of A Christmas Carol rallied in Dublin today before paying a visit to billionaire Denis O’Brien — to protest about the poor treatment of British construction workers employed by his company.

Mr O’Brien is the second-richest man in Ireland and the majority shareholder of Actavo, which is carrying out work at British Steel in Scunthorpe.

But scaffolders there are being paid up to 15 per cent below the agreed national rate, prompting strike action that has now been ongoing for nine weeks.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is a scandal that billionaire Denis O’Brien’s company pays these workers well below the official rates. 

“Actavo can easily afford to pay the agreed national wage rates  but chooses not to. While O’Brien  lives in the lap of luxury his workers are haunted by poverty in the run-up to Christmas.”