In brief

A round-up of other business stories

Mallon appointed to ESB board

The former SDLP deputy leader and MP Seamus Mallon has been appointed as a director of the ESB by the Government. The economist Eoin Fahy was re-appointed to the board.

Mr Fahy was first appointed to the board in January 2001. He is chief economist with KBC Asset Management Dublin and is an established media commentator on economic issues. Mr Mallon has been involved in politics since the 1970s and worked closely for many years with SDLP leader John Hume.

Ulster Bank picks Declan Fitzgerald

Ulster Bank has appointed Declan Fitzgerald as head of its capital markets division. Mr Fitzgerald, who is in his mid-30s, joins the bank from AIB Capital Markets where he was head of corporate and structured investments.

He has worked with AIB for 15 years. The bank said that Mr Fitzgerald will support the strengthening and development of Ulster Bank's corporate and business banking division under its chief executive, Robert Gallagher, who joined Ulster Bank last June from AIB Corporate Banking International.

€33,000 average wage in finance

The average salary in the financial services market in Dublin is now almost €33,000, compared to an average salary of almost €52,000 in London.

New research from recruitment firm the Blomfield Group indicates that there were 2,600 new financial services jobs on the market in Dublin in January, compared to 1,925 last September and just 950 in December.

Jagran Prakashan shares slip

Shares in newspaper publisher Jagran Prakashan slipped below their offer price yesterday after making a strong debut, as investors balked at the high valuation, analysts said.

Jagran Prakashan, in which Independent News & Media Plc, has just over a 20 per cent stake, publishes India's largest-selling daily newspaper, the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran. - (Reuters)

CEOs question Government role

Less than half of the chief executives in Ireland's biggest companies believe the Government is receptive to their business agenda, new research suggests. Chief executives say the Government was more in touch with the needs of the business community than its counterparts elsewhere, but only 45 per cent surveyed by accounting group PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) agreed with the suggestion that Irish political leaders "are responsive to my business agenda".

Most respondents were confident about their prospects for 2006.