Ervia boss to ditch 400,000 shares in water meter firm

The head of Irish Water’s parent company, Ervia (formerly Bord Gáis), has confirmed he is to "divest" himself of more than 400,000 shares in a company which makes money from installing water meters — but insisted everything he had done is "above board".

Details of Ervia chief Michael McNicholas’s shares in NTR emerged in a report in the Mail on Sunday. It raised “perceptions of a possible conflict of interest at the very heart of Irish Water”.

Yesterday, Mr McNicholas confirmed he was chief executive of NTR until May 2013 when he joined Ervia.