A member of the board of Bord na Móna yesterday pleaded guilty to assaulting a former business colleague during a "highly charged" business meeting.
Pascal Campbell (45), Rock Lane, Birr, Co Offaly, was fined €350 for an assault on Mr Andrew Rudd.
Birr District Court heard yesterday that Campbell hit Mr Rudd and knocked him off his chair during a board meeting of a meat-processing company they were both involved in.
"A bit of a melee" reportedly took place, and the meeting was abandoned.
Shortly after the meeting, on March 12th this year, the company, Prue & David Rudd & Family Ltd, Birr, was wound up because of severe financial trouble.
Mr Andrew Rudd was listed as the managing director of the company.
Campbell, a successful businessman in the Birr region, appeared in court yesterday but did not give evidence after his solicitor, Mr Jim Lucey, said his client was pleading guilty.
The court heard that six people attended a board meeting of Prue and David Rudd in March. Matters became heated when the issues of expenses and sales were raised.
Campbell, who was said to have made a "huge investment" in an effort to rescue the company, feared for its solvency and felt he was not being given the true financial position of the company at the meeting.
In the "highly-charged atmosphere" he assaulted Mr Rudd and was charged under the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act, 1997.