Still on Telecom, the company's new chief financial officer, Malcolm Fallen, will no doubt find his new employer a less controversial operator than his last employer, British Biotech. The pharmaceuticals company has seen its share price plummet from 147p sterling (€2.2) to 17p in the last year and has had a very chequered history.

Earlier this month, the company made its research director Andrew Millar redundant following his warning to shareholders that the company was being too optimistic about its research. He also revealed that the US authorities had examined efficacy trials on Biotech's much vaunted oral cancer drug marimastat and found it was no more effective than Eil Lilly's gemeitabine. The failure of these trials led to a wave of uncertainlty about the future of biotechnology companies.

Mr Fallen, a former employee of British Telecom, joined British Biotech as group finance director in September 1997. At that stage it was seen as the standard bearer for the flourishing biotechology scene.

Despite this week's unheavals in Telecom Eireann, it's a safe bet that Mr Fallen's new role will feel positively tranquil, compared to the topsy turvey world of the biotechnology sector. For the record, Mr Fallen has also worked for Arthur Anderson, Philips & Drew, Lowndes Queensway, Bowater and Polly Peck.

This background means that an attractive package was needed to lure him to Telecom. The basic salary is believed to be in the £200,000 to £250,000 range, with a signing on bonus and a possible IPO bonus to boot. No doubt chief executive Alfie Kane will be ensuring that his package will in future reflect the normal gap between finance director and chief executive.