Mr Peter Lynch in no stranger to falling share prices and companies unloved by the stock market. The collapse in the value of Adare Printing shares from a high of €13.33 in 1998 to €5.50 last April provoked him to try to buy the company.

His €140 million (£110 million) management buyout was unsuccessful and he was left with no option but to step down last summer. Mr Lynch's attempt to buy Adare out from underneath Mr Nelson Loane - the founder of the company and the man who recruited him - did not surprise people familiar with the aggressive Belfast-born accountant. His decision to once again slot into the number two role at Eircom - albeit a bigger company - was less predictable.

Mr Lynch recently bought 8 per cent of Oakhill, the print and packaging offshoot of James Crean and had been expected to mount a bid for the whole company. A chartered accountant by training, Mr Lynch worked in stockbroking and corporate finance before joining Adare in 1995. He was an executive with the corporate finance arm of Mr Dermot Desmond's NCB from 1985 to 1987 and his time there involved a six-month stint on secondment to R&J Emmet. He then moved to ABN Amro where he was deputy managing director of the stockbroking business.

His experience of corporate finance will be put to use immediately by Eircom, and his blunt high-energy approach may result in the company taking a more demanding stance with its own corporate advisers - Merrill Lynch and AIB - who are considered by some to have been out-played by Vodafone in the recent Eircell deal.

Mr Lynch is on a 12-month rolling contract and his remuneration package is understood to be in line with that of his predecessor, Mr Malcolm Fallen who earned more than €250,000 plus benefits and bonus.