Davy Stockbrokers' former joint managing director, Mr Kyran McLaughlin, has joined Ryanair's board.

Mr McLaughlin resigned the Davy's position in November 1999, when it emerged he had invested £250,000 (#317,435) in a Liechtenstein-based trust which is being investigated by the Revenue Commissioners as part of its inquiries into the Ansbacher scheme.

Ryanair's spokeswoman said the company "couldn't care less" about Mr McLaughlin's resignation from the Davy post.

She said: "To secure someone with Kyran McLaughlin's skill and expertise is a tremendous coup for Ryanair.

"The issues surrounding his resignation have no bearing whatsoever on the matter."

Ryanair also appointed a retired Aer Lingus assistant chief executive and an Italian-based businessman to its board yesterday.

Mr Michael Horgan retired from Aer Lingus in 1993, where he had responsibility for technical standards. Mr Paolo Pietrogrande is chief executive of ERGA, a subsidiary of the Italian energy group Enel.

Mr Horgan is a former chief pilot at the State airline and has advised airlines, civil aviation authorities and the European Commission.

He will chair Ryanair's safety subcommittee, replacing Mr Arthur Walls, who died last May. Mr Walls was a former general manager at Aer Lingus.

Mr McLaughlin resigned as a Davy Stockbrokers board member when he stood down as joint managing director.

However, he is still an employee of the Bank of Ireland-owned company, which is broker to Ryanair.

He said at that time that he had entered dialogue with the Revenue to resolve any outstanding tax issues related to the Lichtenstein fund "or any other matters". The money invested in the fund came from his after-tax income.

The Revenue declined to comment yesterday when asked whether Mr McLaughlin had made a settlement. Mr McLaughlin's spokesman said he had no comment to make on any discussions he might have had with the Revenue.

A Revenue team is investigating the Leichtenstein fund as part of its inquiries into Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, which operated a secretive bank enabling depositors to evade tax.

Mr McLaughlin is believed to have told lawyers acting for the Moriarty tribunal in 1999 that neither he nor Davy had anything to do with the Ansbacher scheme.

He was not the author of a document known as "a note to John Furze", one of the businessmen who operated the Ansbacher scheme. That document, which described the scheme, was given to Mr McLaughlin by Mr Furze at a meeting in the early 1980s.

Mr McLaughlin is believed to have told the lawyers that he placed it in his personal files, from where it was leaked by a person with access to those files.

Ryanair yesterday said it was increasing fares on routes from Aer Rianta-owned airports with immediate effect.

This was due to an increase in passenger landing fees. The average per-passenger fee rose to £9.50 from £7.20 a year ago. Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary again claimed Aer Rianta's monopoly was inconsistent with the need to provide tourists with "low cost" access to the Republic.