The Competition Authority has urged the abolition of the ban on below-cost selling by supermarkets after Dunnes Stores and Tesco were yesterday convicted of illegally discounting baby foods.
The growing clamour for companies to appoint independent non-executive directors could help sound a death knell for the "old boy's club" and usher more women into the boardroom, a conference heard yesterday.
As firms are forced to broaden the pool of individuals from which they select non-executives in response to concerns over corporate ethics, the number of women appointed as non-executives is likely to increase, Prof Niamh Brennan, Michael MacCormac Professor of Management at the Smurfit School of Business, UCD, told a symposium at the college on Women in Leadership.
"Companies won't be able to get directors from the small pool in which they have have been fishing... Inevitably, women will come into the frame as a result," said Prof Brennan, who chaired the symposium.
The corporate sector is under increasing pressure to appoint non-executive directors who are seen to be fully independent, in the wake of the influential Higgs report on governance in Britain.
Six out of 10 Irish companies breach the guidelines for independence set out by Higgs, a recent study by Institute of Directors' Centre for Corporate Governance at UCD found.
With boardroom ethics a major issue, UCD would offer a diploma in corporate governance from autumn, Prof Brennan said.
Other speakers at the symposium were: Ms Norah Casey, Smurfit Communications chief executive; Ms Vivienne Jupp, managing partner, global e-government services, Accenture; Prof Mary Lambkin, dean of postgraduate and interdisciplinary studies, UCD; Ms Angela Kennedy, Megazyme co-founder and Small Firms Association chairwoman; and Ms Angela Nolan, Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association chief executive.
