It was never going to be a cushy number, but barely two months into the job, Public Enterprise Minister Mary O'Rourke, has already found herself in the thick of several rows. The dispute over the incoming ESB chief executive's pay is the latest saga in a portfolio which includes 10 commercial semi-states turning over approximately £4 billion per annum. It surfaced publicly last weekend, after the ESB held a five-hour special meeting to discuss the issue.

The ESB board had agreed a deal with the incoming chief executive, Mr Ken O'Hara, along the lines of the Buckley report; but the new Government announced in July that it was deferring the implementation of the report's recommendations. The Government insists that Mr O'Hara's pay must conform to the guidelines of the existing Gleeson report on pay for public servants.

This means that, with bonuses, O'Hara's deal would be worth around £105,000 instead of more than £200,000 a year, which the ESB board feels he should be offered. Ms O'Rourke is caught in the middle because under legislation, she, and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy must approve the chief executive's deal.

Ms O'Rourke has met the ESB several times to explain the Government's position. The meetings have been described by all sides as cordial. The Minister stressed to the ESB that she is available to discuss the issue at any time.

She has the advantage in that she can cite the Cabinet decision and the fact that the Finance Minister will not approve such a deal.

However, colleagues say that Ms O'Rourke is well-capable of laying down the law herself on this issue. She is variously described as "formidable" and "determined", by those who deal with her.

The dispute is unlikely to phase O'Rourke, who thrives on the cut and thrust of whatever she gets involved in. Her portfolio is probably the most complex of any Minister, with the companies under her control accounting for more than 5 per cent of GNP.

They include companies such as Aer Lingus, Aer Rianta, the state airport operator, Telecom, Bord na Mona and CIE.

The first problem which confronted O'Rourke on taking office was a dispute within CIE in July. A row over the introduction of mini-buses on suburban routes threatened to lead to a strike.

When last-minute talks broke down, the Minister intervened. She called on the company to defer introducing the buses and for the unions to call off the strike. This was done, but management was said to be furious at O'Rourke's intervention.

Her intervention caused surprise in some circles. Colleagues say she felt management was taking a macho stance for the sake of it. (CIE is negotiating cost saving plans in its three subsidiaries. The unions want the total package agreed before any single element of the plans can be implemented.)

Sources say the Minister felt that a strike over the issue at the height of the tourist season would be catastrophic and that in some ways management was provoking it.

One of the first tasks for the new Minister was to present CIE's annual report. Clearly the tensions between the Minister and CIE management run deeper than the bus issue.

Ms O'Rourke has said she wants CIE to be turned from a problem into a challenge, but has also acknowledged that the current management team has made many improvements. She is said to be unimpressed with how the company has been progressing its viability plans. And Mr John Behan, a consultant who worked with TEAM, has been asked to look at the subsidiaries.

She was not impressed that on the one hand she was hearing about viability plans and what CIE was going to do, while on the other, the company had lost £25 million more in 1996 than it did in 1995, according to one source.

"O'Rourke's bottom line is value for the customer," says one of her former colleagues.

Ms O'Rourke has told colleagues that this will be her approach in her current job. She believes the public, who is paying for the services of the semi-states, has a right to be sure that trains run on time and they post will reach their destinations on time.

One of the most experienced Ministers in the Cabinet, Mary O'Rourke has held several posts, including Minister for Education, Minister for Labour, Minister for Health and Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry.

In fact, her championing of the consumer, led to her getting an award from the Consumers Association of Ireland for her work on the 1995 Consumer Credit Act.

She ensured that bank charges were brought under the remit of the Director of Consumer Affairs. Although popular with business people in general, her stance is said to have angered the banks.

Her colleagues say she has great political antennae, and is brilliant at reading a situation. She is also very quick at reading herself into situations and grasping the general principles.

As soon as she took office she arranged a series of meetings with the companies under her remit, meeting chairmen and chief executives. All of the companies face specific challenges, having moved from being monopolies into a competitive situation because of EU liberalisation. Aer Rianta, for example, faces the challenge of losing duty free.

O'Rourke is reported to be a strong proponent of retaining duty free, which is crucial to Aer Rianta's profitability. Aer Lingus is currently seeking potential strategic alliance partners and has to continue driving down costs in an increasingly competitive market.

O'Rourke is believed to have no ideological view on selling off part of the State assets. She wants the semi-states to maximise their businesses, says one source.

A hard worker, she is normally in her Kildare Street office by 7.30 a.m. She listens to Radio 4 and then turns on to RTE. She is an avid reader of newspapers.

The Department of Public Enterprise holds a management meeting once a week. "Civil servants like to talk," says one observer, "but O'Rourke makes sure things speed along quickly".

Colleagues say she doesn't lose her temper, but she can be quite caustic if she feels someone is giving her the runaround. She doesn't neglect her constituency work and is said to be a great woman to work a room. "She doesn't suffer fools gladly," says a source.

One businessman who is friendly with Ms O'Rourke says she is "as machiavellian as they come. She is loyal to herself and her party and is a politician through and through."

He says she has no overall policy, but is great at solving specific issues. "`She is a rugged fighter over detail," he says.

Another businessman who has met her several times says she is very much her own person and will pick her own agenda.

Her previous experience in Trade and Industry served her well while in Opposition. She took a great interest in the Tesco takeover of Quinnsworth/Crazy Prices, harrying the then Enterprise and Employment Minister Richard Bruton to ensure safeguards for Irish suppliers were put in place.

A media-friendly politician, it was perhaps not surprising that she also took a great interest in attempts to rescue the Irish Press group and also in the report into the newspaper industry, which Mr Richard Bruton commissioned.

But now she is back in Government and facing a testing time in overseeing some of Ireland's biggest businesses through a period of change.

And whatever deal is agreed for Ken O'Hara, a Cabinet Minister, on £70,000 a year, has to have motivations other than money.