Top business leaders wade in for Munster

Munster Rugby have brought in some of the country’s leading businessmen to help steer them through the economic downturn.

Munster’s financial controller Philip Quinn projected a deficit of €1.052m last year at the AGM and forecast considerable cost-cutting measures to break even this year. Munster’s annual repayment of €400,000, plus interest, to the IRFU for their loan to finance the Thomond Park redevelopment was the chief concern after the branch was hit by a higher-than-expected hike in interest rates.

Yesterday Munster announced the appointment of a non-executive commercial board “to provide strategic guidance, advice and support to the existing branch committee structures and management team”.

The committee will be chaired by Niall FitzGerald, formerly chief executive of Unilever, chairman of Reuters and current British Museum chair. He will be joined by Patrick Coveney (Greencore), David Cronin (UL Foundation), Tony Keohane (Tesco) and Ken Murphy (Boots). FitzGerald said: “As a passionate Munster supporter, I am very pleased to be involved.”