Ireland

Irish Times Statement

In order to facilitate the restructuring of the Boards of the Irish Times Trust Limited and the Irish Times Limited, Major T

Thu Dec 20 2001 - 00:00

In order to facilitate the restructuring of the Boards of the Irish Times Trust Limited and the Irish Times Limited, Major T.B. Mc Dowell has retired as Chairman, Governor and Member of The Irish Times Trust Limited and as a Director of The Irish Times Limited and of all other Group companies of which he is a Director. He has thus brought to an end nearly forty years service with the Group.

In making his announcement, Major Mc Dowell expressed his appreciation to all at The Irish Timeswho helped him over the years especially between 1962 when he was appointed and in 1997 when he retired as Chief Executive, thereby terminating the special legal powers he had had. He made particular reference to the Governors of the Irish Times Trust, past and present, who contributed unstinting effort to preserve the independence and integrity of The Irish Times,especially in matters editorial.

In referring to the current financial difficulties he expressed full confidence in the ability of management, in partnership with the workforce, to resolve the problems. He also pointed to the fact that the paper had encountered financial difficulties in the past and that these had been resolved through co-operation and the diligent effort of all involved.

In accepting his retirement The Irish Times Trust acknowledged the huge developments editorially, technologically and commercially of the Irish Times under Major Mc Dowell’s leadership and committed itself to ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to preserve the independence, ethos and integrity of the paper, to continue to support the Board and Management of The Irish Times Limited especially in its efforts to resolve current difficulties and to maintain the prestigious position of the paper in our society which has been created under Major Mc Dowell’s leadership.

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As a fitting end to his career at The Irish Times and in recognition of his distinguished and outstanding service, the Boards of The Irish Times Trust Limited and the Irish Times Limited have awarded Major Mc Dowell the title of President for Life of the Irish Times Group.

The Irish Times Limited has announced a number of structural reforms including the following:

  1. In future the number of Directors who are also members of the Irish Times Trust Ltd. Will be confined to three.
  2. The Board will instead include a number of non-Executive Directors who are not members of the Irish Times Trust Ltd.
  3. Voting Rights will be revised so that each Director will have one vote. [Provision will be made to safeguard the ethos, quality and standards of The Irish Times]
  4. The existing system of rotation of the membership of the Irish Times Trust Ltd. Is being amended to provide for regular change and to facilitate this, a number of existing Directors will retire/resign over the coming year.