Shareholders left to lick wounds

Shareholders expressed admiration for Mr Ray MacSharry's chairmanship of Eircom's a.g.m. yesterday but their praise stopped there.

While many said equity market investments were inherently risky, they singled out the Government and the company's management for particular criticism. Others questioned the strategy adopted by journalists Senator Shane Ross and Eamon Dunphy.

Ms Carmel Ryan, from Drimnagh in Dublin, said she and her husband Mr John Ryan made long-term investments in Eircom for their grandchildren.

"I've a lot of investments and this one is terrible. They're the very worst." Asked about the conduct of the a.g.m., she said: "The questions weren't really answered."

Mr Thomas Clarke, from Wicklow, said he had lost £80,000 after investing £200,000 in Eircom. "What was not made clear was that you were not able to sell the shares straight away." A former caterer and property investor, Mr Clarke said he feared Eircom's stock would fall even further to €2.

Asked about the controversial incentive scheme for the company's management, Mr Clarke said: "I get no sense of moral right at all."

Ms Sarah O Culachain, from Bray, said naivety was a factor in the investments of many shareholders. "There's a risk you take when you go into the stock market. "The issue everybody is here for is the share price."

Of Senator Ross, she said he understood the mood of the people but was using the question for his own agenda. Mr MacSharry was doing a difficult job well, said Ms O Culachain, an accountant.

A retired public servant, Mr John Gleeson, said he was concerned about the price but was holding his stock in anticipation of a long-term gain. "I'm not happy with the platform sought by Eamon Dunphy and Shane Ross," he said. Attempts to nominate Senator Ross to Eircom's board were "spurious" because the mechanisms for appointing directors were well established.

While the calibre of questions was good, Ms McGrath said the replies were "very much in the company line as expected".

Mr Gerry Lawlor, a private investor from Cabinteely in Dublin, said the meeting was "probably the best show in town at the moment". He added:

"I think people didn't understand the risk. Shares go up and down. If you're averse to risk, put the money in the bank."

Ms Helga Mitchel - who came to live in Dublin from Dusseldorf, Germany, more than 40 years ago - said she invested in Eircom due to loyalty to her "chosen country". "I'm more than disappointed at the drop in share price. The Government and Eircom has let the entire country down. Mary O'Rourke has questions to answer."

Mr Giaomo Polisamo, an Italian travel agent who has lived in the State since 1986, said his investment in Eircom was his first venture into the equity market. "I think it will be the last time," he said.

"I thought there was a point in coming here but it seems everything has been arranged already. What the people say doesn't really matter," he said in reference to proxies for votes cast by institutional investors.

Of the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, who managed the flotation, Mr Polisamo said: "I think she's the one who I would blame the most."

Unlike many attendees, Ms Catherine McGrath said she was "immunised" from loss on her original investment because she sold a number of shares when their value rose sharply just after the flotation. "But I still hold quite a number of shares," said Ms McGrath, an actuarial IT consultant.