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Eircom boss shifts ground

Eircom watchers looking for an indication as to whether Peter Lynch sees his long-term future with the telco will have been alerted by an announcement last week from the employee’s shared ownership plan (Esop), which controls 35% of the company’s equity.

A note on the Esop’s website said Lynch, Eircom’s finance chief, had stepped down as a director of the trust and had been replaced by Paul Reid, the telco’s operations director.

The move immediately set tongues wagging. Is Lynch planning to join the former chief executive Philip Nolan and the commercial director David MacRedmond in heading for the exit door? Lynch has so far given no indication of his plans. Word is that having filled the Esop role for four years, he felt it was time to step down and that as a senior member of the company’s board it might not be prudent for him to also have a key role with the Esop.

Odds on Paddy Power in Italy

If reports that Italy is set to legalise online gaming prove to be correct, you’ll get short odds on Paddy Power making it the next stop in its European expansion plan — the Irish bookie launched a German- language website in advance of this summer’s World Cup.

Reports suggest that Italy could introduce a new law to regulate online gambling from January 1.

If it comes to pass, it would mark a sharp U-turn by the Italian government, perhaps prompted by an EU probe into competition in online gambling across continental Europe. Earlier this year, Italy attempted to ban all addresses of online gaming sites.

IBOA obstructs pension plans

Brian Goggin must be cursing his predecessors for ever letting the Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) get a foot in the door. The bolshie banking union last week said it would ballot members on industrial action after Bank of Ireland (BOI) refused to back down on plans to replace its defined benefit pension scheme with a less attractive defined contribution one for new staff members.

The IBOA said new workers at the bank would be 20% worse off in terms of their remuneration, while the bank argues that the new scheme offers better pension terms than other Irish corporates.

Contrast that to Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P), the country’s fourth-biggest financial institution. On September 13, IL&P quietly announced that it was doing exactly what BOI is proposing. The changes were agreed through the Labour Court and will be implemented on December 31. IL&P staff are represented by a number of unions, including Siptu, but not by the IBOA. David Went must be thanking his lucky stars.

ciaran.hancock@sunday-times.ie