BoI appoints tax exile O’Brien to senior post

BANK OF IRELAND has controversially appointed multi-millionaire tax exile Denis O’Brien as its new deputy chairman.

The Moriarty Tribunal is investigating the circumstances under which Mr O'Brien was awarded the licence to operate Ireland's second mobile phone network. He subsequently made around €300 million with the sale of his company Esat Telecom to telecoms giant BT.

The Portuguese-based businessman replaces Richard Burrows, the joint managing director of international drinks giant Pernod Ricard who became the bank's chairman following the retirement of Laurence Crowley earlier this year.

Mr O'Brien, 47, came to prominence in the Irish business world when the Esat Digifone consortium, which he headed, unexpectedly landed the licence to operate Ireland's second mobile phone network nearly 10 years ago, beating off competition from a number of high-profile international groups.

Lawyers for Mr O'Brien told the Moriarty Tribunal earlier this week that he had spent €7.5m on advisers as a result of the long-running probe and called on the tribunal chairman to bring it to an end. A decision is expected next week.

If the tribunal's investigation into the sale of the Doncaster Rovers stadium and the respective roles of Mr O'Brien and former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry in the transaction is allowed to proceed by the High Court, Mr O'Brien will in all likelihood be required to give evidence.

One of the objections raised by Mr O'Brien to the investigation is that the transaction occurred long after Mr Lowry departed from ministerial office.

Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle yesterday described the appointment of Mr O'Brien as surprising, in the light of the controversies in which he has been involved.

"The first thing that should be said is that the Bank of Ireland is a private concern.

"But it's worth pointing out that it's the bank that transacts the most business in the State," he said.

Mr O'Brien's new role commands a salary of €148,000, but is often regarded as a stepping stone to the chairman's job, which is considered one of the most venerable positions in the Irish corporate world.

The chairman has no role in the day-to-day running of the bank but acts as chief watchdog of the board for shareholders.

Mr O'Brien's appointment is for a two-year period. He will juggle the role with his existing jobs as chairman of Digicel, his mobile phone operation in the Caribbean region; director of Communicorp, the group that handles his media interests; chairman of the governing body of the National College of Ireland; and director of publicly quoted printing group Oakhill.

Mr O'Brien holds Bank of Ireland shares worth almost €4m. He attended seven of the bank's nine board meetings that were held in the year to March 2005.