A special meeting of the Eircom board will take place today to approve a new employee share scheme, costing £22 million (€27.9 million) for staff who transfer from the company to British mobile phone group Vodafone.

The board was due to convene next Wednesday for its regular monthly meeting, but today's meeting, called just yesterday, will discuss the scheme and several other technical issues involved in the Vodafone deal. Vodafone is buying Eircom's mobile arm, Eircell, in a share deal worth more than £3.2 billion. It is understood that issues that have finally been ironed out include sharing of property and technology in some instances.

Eircom shares gained seven cents yesterday, spurred on by a combination of news of the agreement between management and Eircom employees, and a stronger performance by Vodafone, closing at €2.60. Unions had threatened to block the sale if members leaving Eircom were not compensated for surrendering their entitlement to shares under the Employees Share Ownership Trust, which was set up when Eircom floated in 1999. Vodafone had also threatened to abandon the deal to buy Eircell if employees refused to transfer.