THE Smurfit group offered its shareholders a vigorous defence of its environmental record, and the company's chairman and chief executive, Dr Michael Smurfit, expressed optimism about future price rises in the paper business, and elected the first woman to its board at the annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday.
Preempting a possible repeat of last year's barrage of questions on the environment, Dr Smurfit told the a.g.m. the company had placed the issue at the centre of its operations, and was happy to comply with often stringent local regulations.
"In many cases, we exceed these standards. In Colombia, for instance, we were pioneers in the field of pollution abatement when there was no legal requirement to have it, and we continue to be to the forefront in being good corporate citizens here," he said.
The former Green Party TD, Mr Roger Garland, asked why the company was not included in the Friends Provident ethical fund, and Dr Smurfit said he would investigate the matter.
Shareholders also established that while the Smurfit group gage money to political parties, it spread the donations so that no single organisation received all the money.
Dr Smurfit said he was much happier about the future at this time than the previous year, adding that he believed the market had bottomed out. There had already been a rise in the price of newsprint, and there would likely be another at the end of the year.
Shareholders yesterday signified their approval of the appointment of Dr Mary Redmond as the company's first female director by breaking into applause. Dr Redmond was unanimously approved after Dr Michael Smurfit praised her as "a woman of great distinction and ability".
A lawyer, specialising in labour regulations, Dr Redmond has been a director of Bank of Ireland since 1994. Dr Smurfit said she was also renowned for her success in founding the Irish Hospice Foundation.
"I have long admired what the Smurfit group has achieved," she said afterwards, "and I look forward to participating to its continued success.
