Rothwell a shrewd operator

HOW to be mean to a millionaire: Quote his €687,000 salary and recall how he was accused of employing a Filipino beautician on €1 an hour.

Or show pictures of his south Dublin mansion complete with lush gardens and swimming pool and compare it to the ships he expects immigrant workers to call home.

But if Eamonn Rothwell is either mortified or miffed by comparisons between his personal wealth and the sparse lives of his imported workers, he doesn’t show it.

The only hint of exasperation he has allowed to ripple across his flat calm exterior came in a piece he wrote in response to what he believes has been hysterical, badly researched and biased media coverage.

“It seems easier to feed off the daily press releases from SIPTU and portray Irish Ferries as an uncaring exploitative employer driven only by profit, than it is to research the merits of the arguments,” he complained.

Rothwell is chief executive of Irish Continental Group (ICG) of which he also owns a €23 million share. As well as Irish Ferries, there are several sister firms providing freight, lift-on lift-off and storage services.

Hailing from Dublin’s Liberties, Rothwell is not of maritime stock and prior to ICG, the only floating he worried about was when companies went public on the stock exchange.

A business graduate, he began to earn a name for himself as a shrewd and energetic operator at NCB stockbrokers.

Prior to that, he worked for Irish Business magazine before moving to Bord Fáilte and then Allied Irish Investment Managers.

He joined ICG in the early 1990s after it had broken away as a fragment of the former State-owned Irish Shipping Group, and as the company expanded with the take-over of the similarly State-owned B&I ferries, his status elevated.

Comparisons have been made with Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary, but while everyone knows O’Leary’s face, voice, taste in shirts and fondness for Aberdeen Angus cattle, Rothwell is a much darker horse who shuns the notion of celebrity bosses and is rarely seen at photo opportunities.

Aged 49 and married with children, he is said to be personable and likeable outside of the office but keeps long office hours and is a formidable opponent around the negotiation table.