Ireland On-Line founders, Mr Barry Flanagan and Mr Colm Grealy, are breaking with the company they established in 1992, to start a new Internet related business. The split with the internet service provider has been described as amicable, and Mr Flanagan and Mr Grealy will continue to work with IOL on a consultancy basis.

The pair declined to divulge details of their plans this week other than to say their new activities would centre around developing new models and services to enable electronic commerce.

Mr Flanagan said: "There has been a lot of change and maturation of the industry, so it became a natural time for us to look about again. There remains a very low level of real insight within the industry, but by looking to the horizon we would aim to provide companies with a lot of opportunity for growth via the Internet."