Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 29 Jun 1999

Vol. 507 No. 2

Written Answers. - Employee Shareholding Schemes.

Michael D. Higgins

Question:

19 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Public Enterprise her views on the retention of worker directors on the boards of semi-State companies; if she will reconsider the position on worker participation at board level in Telecom Éireann; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16492/99]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

In my reply of 15 June to Parliamentary Question No. 143, I indicated that discussions had taken place between the Department of the Taoiseach and the ICTU prior to the appointment of the directors to the board of Telecom Éireann. Those discussions related specifically to the question of employee representation on the board of Telecom Éireann.

It was agreed that the general issue of employee representation on the boards of State companies will be the subject of discussion in the context of the post-Partnership 2000 scenario. Any suggestions put forward by the trade unions concerning the role of employee representations in the evolving structure of State companies will be considered in this context.

The obligations imposed by the Worker Participation (State Enterprises) Acts, 1977 and 1988, are no longer appropriate to the status of Telecom Éireann as a publicly quoted company following the initial public offering. However the employees will continue to have a voice in the running of the company by virtue of the employee share ownership plan, ESOP, under which the employee trust is entitled to nominate a director to the board. Mr. Dick Spring has been appointed in this capacity. I should also point out that Mr. Bill Attley, on my nomination, was appointed to the board to fill one of the vacancies created by the resignation of the two worker directors, and their alternates, at the board meeting of 19 May 1999.