Bord na Mona votes on O'Connor's pay and refers final decision to Lowry

THE Minister for Energy, Mr Lowry, is to be told this morning of the concern of the board of Bord na Mona over the pay package of managing director, Dr Eddie O'Connor. However, after a 131/2 hour meeting the board decided to make no recommendation on Dr O'Connor's position.

At just before 3.30 a.m. this morning the board of the company finally agreed a resolution on Dr O'Connor's remuneration. They are understood not to have made a strong recommendation, but to have concluded that his pay may have breached guidelines.

It is now up to Mr Lowry and his Cabinet colleagues to decide what action to take, but without a strong recommendation from the board it is not clear what the Government will do. Leaving the meeting this morning Dr O'Connor said he was still managing director of Bord na Mona and some sources believe it is a good outcome from his viewpoint. Dr O'Connor would make no further comment.

Due to legal advice the company chairman, Mr Pat Dineen, excluded himself from the final deliberations and from any vote on the issue.

In dramatic scenes early this morning, Dr O'Connor, who also did not take part in the final deliberations, was called back into the meeting in a Dublin hotel to witness the vote on his package. The board voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

Earlier, in a 56 page statement given to the board members, Dr O'Connor argued he had not breached Government guidelines or the terms of his contract because all elements of his package had been agreed by the former chairman, Mr Brendan Halligan.

As the board members held their final deliberations, the two men at the centre of the affair were not present. Dr O'Connor left the meeting just before 9 p.m., while the company chairman, Mr Pat Dineen, also excluded himself. Dr O'Connor returned shortly after 3a.m.

Mr Dineen said in a statement at 3.15 a.m. he had received legal advice that if he did not absent himself from the meeting, any decision might be delayed for up to one year. He did so "with great regret."

Neither Dr O'Connor or Mr Dineen would participate in any vote, the board agreed.

At issue are elements of Dr O'Connor's package at Bord na Mona, particularly £66,000 in unvouched expenses claimed over nine years. Dr O'Connor has said this money was part of a "public affairs budget".