THE new managing director of one of Ireland's biggest private industrial firms, the $1 billion Aughinish Alumina, has expressed concern at the proposed increase in electricity charges.

Ms Cynthia Carroll (39), who has taken over as managing director of the company on the Shannon estuary, said that its bill of over £10 million a year made it the biggest single user of electricity in the country.

Ms Carroll said energy costs were a major factor in its production charges. She planned to have discussions shortly with the ESB on the matter. Meanwhile, the company would he looking at other forms of generating energy, including natural gas.

Aughinish Alumina employs 450 directly and contributes over £50 million to the local economy each year.

Ms Carroll expressed concern about the animal problems on farms in the Askeaton area. "While we have the greatest sympathy for any farmer suffering losses and have offered and will continue to offer any help we can in the circumstances, we are naturally very pleased that the Department of Agriculture and the EPA, who had taken charge of the investigations, were bringing to bear scientific methodology to get to the root of the problem.

"We are also very pleased that their interim report stated that there was no evidence that industrial pollution was the cause of the problem".

Ms Carroll, who was born in Philadelphia, has a Master's degree in geology from the University of Kansas and in Business Administration from Harvard University.

She is one of the first women chief executives of an alumina plant in the world and one of the first women chief executives of heavy industry in Ireland.