DCC chief executive and senior independent director 'delighted'

BOARD REACTION:THE CHIEF executive of DCC and the board's senior independent director have said they are "delighted" with the report by barrister Bill Shipsey.

Tommy Breen and Michael Buckley, in an interview with The Irish Times, said they were particularly pleased with the praise in the report for the standards of corporate governance in the industrial holding company.

“The concerns that were there when the inspection was asked for have not been borne out by the investigation made,” Mr Buckley said. “For us it is very pleasing that he formed a view on the company and its standards in the course of his investigation and was willing to put those views down in categoric and positive terms.”

Mr Breen said the inquiry had been distracting and time-consuming for the company but he was delighted with the findings, “particularly for the 7,000 employees in DCC”, and for shareholders.

“There are no negative findings in the report at all,” he said. “Now we are about getting on with our business.”

In relation to the praise for standards in the company made in the report, Mr Buckley said: “If we had written the report ourselves then that bit mightn’t have been in it in one sense, but it is the DCC that I know. I know it to be true.”

He said Mr Shipsey had gone into every issue in detail and had found no new adverse evidence but had found new material that confirmed DCC’s position in the case taken against it in the High Court by Fyffes.

“He finds the company operates to the highest standards and that puts us in the category we knew we were in and were satisfied we were in.”

He said the report very effectively communicated the view about the former DCC executive chairman Jim Flavin that the company had been trying to communicate in 2007 and 2008. It put what Mr Flavin had done and his motivation and his personal standards in the proper context.

Asked about Mr Flavin’s decision to step down in 2007, Mr Buckley said trying to replay what happened then was “not what we are at”.

Mr Flavin resigned when the Director of Corporate Enforcement applied to the courts for the appointment of an inspector.

“I’m sure Jim will have his own views on the director’s actions,” Mr Buckley said.

Mr Breen said “the key finding about Jim is that there was no wrongdoing” and no question over his integrity and honesty.

Mr Buckley said there had been a finding that there had been no dishonesty and this was “good news for corporate compliance” in Ireland.