O'Connor to meet with board on Monday

THE directors of Bord na Mona will meet next Monday to try to resolve the 10 week old boardroom crisis at the company. The managing director, Dr Eddie O'Connor, is expected to answer a number of questions on his remuneration package put to him by chairman Mr Pat Dineen last week.

Dr O'Connor will be asked to reconcile his remuneration, expenses and benefits with the terms of his employment. He had originally been expected to answer these questions last Monday but sought an extra week in order to take legal advice and prepare his answers.

He is understood to have prepared his response and is not expected to seek any further postponement of the meeting.

If the board takes the view that his package was in breach of Government guidelines, it is expected to advise the Government to that effect. The Government will then have to decide what steps to take, which may include removing Dr O'Connor.

A report on Dr O'Connor's pay and remuneration by accountants Price Waterhouse found that his total package came to £1.9 million over the nine years he has been managing director.

He has disputed the report and said that the package included pension provisions of over £600,000 and business expenses of £580,000. However, he has not disputed that he claimed £66,000 in unvouched expenses over the nine years, but says they were part of a public affairs budget.

Last night, the Department of Transport, Energy and Communication was unable to say if the copy of the report on Dr O'Connor's remuneration received by the Department contained the Price Waterhouse work sheet that accompanied the copy leaked to a Sunday newspaper.

A spokesman for the Department said that none of the departmental officials who had dealt with the report was available yesterday. The work sheet was prepared by Price Waterhouse to facilitate the clarification of certain issues by Dr O'Connor.

Only two copies of the report were circulated by the chairman, Mr Dineen. One was sent to the board's legal advisers and the other was sent to the Department.