Ex-ESB chief named as Eircom chairman

Former ESB chief executive Padraig McManus has been appointed non-executive chairman of telecoms company Eircom.

Mr McManus will assume the role on January 1st. He succeeds Ned Sullivan in the post.

Mr Sullivan, a former chief executive of Glanbia and a non-executive director of Anglo Irish Bank at the time of its nationalisation in 2009, had served as Eircom chairman for the past four years.

This included steering the company successfully through examinership earlier this year when lenders agreed to reduce their gross debts to €2.3 billion.

Mr McManus will have a busy agenda as chairman of the former State telecoms business. In November, the company announced plans to reduce its workforce by 2,000 over 18 months. That represents about one in three workers in the business.

Its five-year business plan, drawn up during the examinership process, involves capital expenditure of €1.5 billion, including €400 million on building a fibre network to support high-speed internet services.

Eircom chief executive Herb Hribar said Mr McManus would bring a “wealth of experience” to the business, particularly in terms of its critical network investment. “We look forward to his leadership of the board as the company prepares to launch Ireland’s largest fibre network, deliver LTE high-speed wireless data services and introduce new products such as television in 2013.”

Mr McManus joined ESB in 1973 and was appointed chief executive in 2002. He stepped down from the role on November 30th, 2011. He is also on the board of the ESRI and is chairman of the National Maternity Hospital Foundation.