The main architect of the Eircom employee share option trust (ESOT) is to leave the position at the end of next month, it was revealed yesterday.
Mr Maoilíosa Ó Cúlacháin, the ESOT's manager and secretary to its trustee board, has announced that he intends to leave those positions on May 31st.
His announcement came just 24 hours after the trustee board chairman and the ESOT representative on the Eircom board, Mr Con Scanlon, revealed that he planned to resign as general secretary of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU).
However, spokesmen for both the union and the ESOT said last night that the two events were not connected.
It is understood that Mr Ó Cúlacháin had been planning to leave for some time.
As an Eircom employee who joined the company before the ESOT's establishment in 1998, he is also a beneficiary or "participant" in the trust.
This means that he was one of a number of past and present employees who shared a €66 million tax-free windfall resulting from the re-flotation of the company last month.
Eircom's previous incarnation, Telecom Éireann, recruited Mr Ó Cúlacháin to work on establishing and structuring the ESOT.Following the company's recent re-flotation, the ESOT controlled just under 30 per cent of the company.
He intends establishing a consultancy in this field, and will continue to advise the Eircom ESOT board. He will also be taking up a position with the National College of Ireland.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Mr Scanlon intends to remain as chairman of the ESOT board and to remain as its representative on the Eircom board.
He is deputy chairman of the newly floated company, a post that entitles him to €106,000 a year in director's fees.
A CWU spokesman said yesterday that the union wanted Mr Scanlon to stay on in that position.
The ESOT is independent of the union but CWU members make up a majority of the participants.
Mr Scanlon will remain with the union for the next three months to allow it time to appoint a successor.
During that period, he will continue to deal with the dispute at An Post, which is currently being handled by the Labour Relations Commission.
