Vol. 506 No. 2
143 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the up-to-date position regarding worker participation in the new board of Telecom Éireann; the proposals, if any, she has in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15104/99]
Under Statutory Instrument No. 87 of 1999 made pursuant to the Postal and Telecommunications Services (Amendment) Act, 1999, Telecom Éireann was removed from the scope of the Worker Participation (State Enterprises) Acts as the obligations imposed by those Acts would not be appropriate to the company's status as a publicly quoted company following the initial public offering. At a board meeting of the company on 19 May, 1999, the two worker directors and their alternates, voluntarily relinquished their positions on the board.
At the same meeting, Mr. Bill Attley, on my nomination, was appointed to the board to fill one of the vacancies. Mr. Attley has a long and distinguished career in public life and held the position of general secretary of SIPTU up to last year. He is currently treasurer and member of the executive council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and is also a member of the board of FÁS and the RTE authority.
Under the employee share ownership plan – ESOP – for Telecom Éireann, the employee trust is entitled to nominate a director for appointment to the board of the company and this nomination would be facilitated by the replacement of one of the worker director positions. Deputy Dick Spring, was nominated by the employee share ownership trust for appointment to the board, and was duly appointed at the board meeting referred to above.
I express my deep appreciation and thanks to the employee directors for their dedicated service on the board. I also welcome Deputy Spring and Bill Attley whose appointments complete the board structure ahead of the IPO.
Discussions on the more general issue of employee representation on the boards of State companies going through ownership change have taken place between Congress and the Department of the Taoiseach under Partnership 2000. Any suggestions put forward by the trade unions concerning the role of employee representatives in the evolving structure of State companies will be considered in this context.
