Tensions rise at Bord na Mona

TENSIONS in the Bord na Mona boardroom are rising ahead of this week's crucial meeting, with Dr Eddie O'Connor saying someone is trying to subject him to "death by a thousand cuts".

Meanwhile, the chairman, Mr Pat Dineen, has said that the board merely wants to understand the details of Dr O'Connor's financial package and that the managing director had yet to meet accountants Price Waterhouse to discuss its contents.

The board is to meet again on Wednesday to discuss Dr O'Connor's remuneration package and to consider, according to the chairman, whether it complied with Government guidelines and with tax law. Dr O'Connor has objected to the terms under which the accountants examined his package and has refused to meet them to discuss it.

In a weekend statement, Mr Dineen denied a claim by Dr O'Connor that there was an intention to remove him with the "maximum humiliation". It is understood that some members of the board were annoyed by this statement and contacted Mr Dineen. Board members were astonished by the claim, according to the subsequent statement from the chairman, but were obliged to accept fully the financial package of the managing director of which they had no previous knowledge. The board wants Dr O'Connor to have "every facility to ensure that they had a fair assessment of the financial package", according to the chairman, but he had not so far met the accountants.

However, yesterday Dr O'Connor said. "If it not humiliation, what is it?" Someone had sought to damage him and ostracise him from his colleagues and the board by leaking contents of the draft second report, he said, and the constant feed of information, much of which, he says, has been misleading, has been like "death by a thousand cuts".

Dr O'Connor also said that the controversy was not helping the company's application for £120 million in Government aid currently being considered by the EU Commission in Brussels, as it represents a state aid.

Erroneous reports that the managing director was paid £1.9 million would not help the company's case in Europe, he said. He again vowed to fight to hold on to his job in Bord na Mona.

A letter from Dr O'Connor to the other board members last week is understood to have argued strongly that the accountants had drawn up a distorted view of his remuneration package by including expenses incurred as the cost of running his office.

These were genuine, he says, adding he did not benefit personally from items such as the purchase of wine for corporate entertainment or jewellery as small gifts for customers. The complete package had been agreed with the former chairman, Mr Brendan Halligan, he said. Mr Halligan is to meet the board on Wednesday to answer questions on the issue.

The letter also says that the leaking of the draft second report to the Sunday Independent was intended to damage him. Dr O'Connor has pointed out that few people has access to the part of the documentation that appears. However, Mr Dineen is understood to have assured Dr O'Connor that neither he nor anyone acting on his authority was responsible for the leak.

Dr O'Connor's letter also warned the directors about their "personal liability" in the issue and this led to them seeking and receiving an indemnity from the Government.

It has emerged that Dr O'Connor has been in contact with the Departments of Finance and Energy since late last year about his pension arrangements. Dr O'Connor says proper pensions arrange meats were not made taking into account of his periods in the ESB and Bord na Mona.

The Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, confirmed in a weekend statement that he told Dr O'Connor he would look favourably on his pension proposals coming from the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications. However "to date no such proposals have been agreed with my Department," he said.

Weekend reports that he was seeking a severance package have been flatly denied by Dr O'Connor. Other sources have also confirmed that the Bord na Mona managing director has been seeking for some time to have his pension arrangements changed.

It has also emerged that some intermediaries sounded out the prospects of Dr O'Connor agreeing a settlement and leaving the company shortly after the controversy broke. However, nothing came of these approaches and Dr O'Connor has now said he will fight to hold on to his position.