Investors take aim and fire at `assembly of tired old masons'

A succession of small shareholders unleashed a tirade of verbal assaults on the Eircom board, dubbing them "tired old masons", "fat cats", and a "thundering disgrace".

For retired teacher Mr Tom Burke, the word "gobshites" came to mind every time he thought of the Eircom directors. "But I'm too much of a gentleman to use it."

Mr Mark Dowling said the only thing missing from the annual report was "the late Des Traynor signing the accounts". "You don't feel our pain, you dropped the ball," he told the board.

He suggested Senator Shane Ross be appointed Eircom chairman and that Eircell chief executive Mr Stephen Brewer replace Mr Alfie Kane.

Mr Paddy Kehoe said he had borrowed and saved hard-earned money to buy Eircom shares to finance his three children's education. He had hoped his children would "get it a bit easier". "What do I say to them now?"

The Independent TD for Dublin Central, Mr Tony Gregory, said Eircom was the first and only company in which he had ever bought shares because he thought it would be "a people's company with no fat cats".

Mr Mike O'Sullivan said Eircom needed a suitable management team but what he saw was not a dynamic team but "an assembly of tired old masons". Mr MacSharry was booed when he said shareholders were fortunate to have a team of such quality and expertise.

Mr Sean Kelly was very disappointed he had put his hard-earned money into a flotation presided over by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke. "She performs her duties as a Minister like weedkiller, everything she touches fades away."

He congratulated Mr Mac Sharry "for your use of the OPA - the Old Pals Act".

He added that Eircom PRO Mr Gerry O'Sullivan's "impertinent" manner when speaking about Eircom issues to the public was "not tolerable". The chairman's refusal to answer a question from Mr Jeremy Craig, later repeated by others, about how much remuneration Mr MacSharry received, was greeted with an extended slow handclap.

Former Tanaiste and Labour Party leader Mr Dick Spring explained why he held no shares in Eircom although he was a director of the company.

He had no cash at the time, he told angry shareholders. But he "will buy shares in this company because I have confidence in it".

Mr Henry Kiernan asked that non-shareholding directors be removed from the board. "They should not be voting on our behalf."

Fianna Fail TD Mr Dick Roche, chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies, urged the board not to "bulldoze through" the resolution on the long-term incentive plan.

Mr Michael Dalton said the several thousand people at the a.g.m. were "totally outvoted" by the billion-plus proxy votes held by Mr MacSharry on behalf of a relatively small number of fund managers and large organisations. Mr MacSharry said the meeting was being conducted under existing company laws.

Ms Anne Robinson said the proxy votes explained "the smugness on the faces of all the directors".

Mr Pat Carroll said this was his first time at such an event and it had brought home to him the position of ordinary shareholders: "They count for nothing."

Ms Kate White sang, "What's it all about, Alfie?" She said Mr MacSharry had been slotted in as chairman by Ms O'Rourke, already he held several directorships, and she wanted to know was he a "Jack of all trades and master of none".

A lone voice in the board's favour was Mr John O'Riordan. He said there were companies in the Irish Stock Exchange which had bad management and no vision. Amid a chorus of boos, he said: "Eircom is not one of those companies. We have excellent management."