The turmoil at Carr Communications continued yesterday when another two senior executives left the organisation, bringing the number of departures in the last fortnight to five.
Former general manager Anton Savage has resigned from the business, a move that follows the departure of his mother Terry Prone two weeks ago and his father Tom Savage last Monday.
The head of training Hilary Kenny also resigned, days after managing director Dermot McCrum sold his controlling stake in Carr to company chairman Fergus Hoban and director Donal Cronin.
The reasons for these departures from one of the best-known communications and training firms in the State remain unclear.
When contacted yesterday, Anton Savage responded by text message to say: "I have left for the same reason as my former MD [ managing director] and colleagues." He did not provide any other information about the reasons for his departure.
Anton Savage, who also works as a part-time radio broadcaster, was not a shareholder in Carr. His mother is a former managing director of Carr and was a shareholder along with her husband and others when Mr McCrum led a management buy-out of the firm in April 2004.
Neither Ms Prone nor her husband have made any public comment about the reasons for their decision to leave the company.
While Mr McCrum held 52.5 per cent of the business, he told staff on Monday that his departure was sad but unavoidable "in order to stay true to my beliefs and values". He received more than €2 million for his shares, a sum that reflects the indebtedness in the business.
Carr Communications itself declined to offer any explanation for the loss of senior-ranking staff in the company.
"Where particular clients have been affected by the resignations, clients have been informed," a spokesman said.
Ms Kenny is a former chief of IPPA, the early childhood organisation, and she was team leader of the Tallaght Family Services and Community Development Projects at Barnardos. She is the mother of another consultant at the company, Gerard Kenny.
The founder of the Unicare pharmacy chain, which he sold in 2002 to German group Celesio, Mr Hoban also owns consulting firm Touchstone Healthcare. He is understood to have increased his stake in the business to some 70 per cent from 22.5 per cent after the deal with Mr McCrum. Mr Cronin's stake increased to 30 per cent from 25 per cent.
