Last week, Sky obtained the names, addresses and bank details of more than 300 dodgy-box subscribers and a number of resellers from a court case against a distributor of the service.

Sky told the High Court it intends to use the information “to take legal actions against the resellers and some of the end users”, but not all 304 subscribers will face action. It marks the first time end users of dodgy boxes could face legal action from Sky.

Mr Murphy described the legal action as “greedy” and called for Sky to drop it.

The Dublin South-West TD said in a statement that there should be a significant increase in investment in public broadcasting investment to provide “free, high-quality content”.

He said broadcast content is controlled by “a range of profit-driven media corporations” charging “substantial” fees that make the cost “prohibitive” for most households.

“When people are being ripped off by multiple subscriptions, or the TV licence, they take what steps they can to avoid unfair charges by using a dodgy-box or not paying the licence fee,” Mr Murphy said.

We need to end the greedy profiteering of Sky and other corporations and re-establish high-quality public broadcasting

“Privatisation has allowed corporations to capture a public good, to charge for it and use legal threats against anyone who tries to avoid their profit- driven agenda.

“It is a disgrace that the courts have allowed Sky, one of the wealthiest corporations on the planet, to pursue ordinary people through the courts. Access to culture is a human right and shouldn’t be dependent on ability to pay. Sky must drop its greedy legal action.

“Culture and entertainment cannot be the preserve of profit-driven corporations. The privatisation and defunding of public service broadcasting has been a disaster. It must be reversed and public broadcasting must be re-established.”

Mr Murphy said his party called for public broadcast funding to be increased by €1bn a year, with that funding coming through taxation of “large and profitable social media and information and communications corporations”.

“This would enable multiple public broadcasters to produce high quality content that is made freely available as a public good,” he said.

“We urgently need to end the greedy profiteering of Sky and other media corporations and re-establish high-quality public broadcasting.”

A spokesperson for Sky declined to comment.