Tag: Republic of Ireland

With testy union-management relations, declining mail volumes and customer disenchantment, the new man will have a very full in-tray. After almost five months, one of the most high profile, if hugely challenging, roles in the State-owned sector has been filled.

Carrying an annual remuneration package of EUR351,000, the chief executive’s job at An Post goes to a man with relatively limited experience of the State sector. Donal Connell (53), replaces a veteran of the semi-state sector, Donal Curtin, who spent most of his career with the Electricity Supply Board (ESB). The lack of semi-state baggage carried by the new man probably has both advantages and disadvantages.

A new chief executive of An Post is expected to be named today by the board of the company following a long search for Donal Curtin’s successor.

A selection committee, made up of board members, has made a unanimous recommendation which will be brought to the board today by chairwoman Margaret McGinley. The Department of Communications is also expected to be informed of the appointment.

An Post is facing an uphill task to have a new chief executive in place in time for a board meeting this Thursday after the first-choice candidate, John Foley, turned down the position to remain chief executive of Waterford Crystal. There was speculation last night that other candidates were now in the frame, including Elmer Toime, former deputy chairman of the British Royal Mail. Mr Toime also once head of the New Zealand postal service.

Other candidates believed to have applied for the post include David McRedmond, commercial director at Eircom, and Larry Donald, a senior executive with An Post, who previously worked with ESB.

There is still a chance the selection committee may return to one of these candidates, but this is thought unlikely. Instead the company will have to select another candidate from the group that originally applied for the post.

If there were international awards for playing the “poor mouth”, An Post’s trophy cabinet would be bulging. On Thursday it announced it had secured E107m for its former SDS site beside the Red Cow roundabout on the Naas Road. For the past two years, An Post senior management played down the value of the site to avoid attracting any unwanted attention from the unions. One report in 2004, from a reputable newspaper, estimated the SDS site to be worth E23m to E27m -which turned out to be E80m less than the price achieved. Hmm. The post office management even went as far as to admonish one cheeky Sunday Times reporter who had the temerity to suggest the site might be worth E70m or more.