Every time you think Eircom can't possibly do anything to further undermine investor confidence, it proves you wrong. This week it was hit by a double whammy - the revelation of its executives' remuneration and the hacking of its Internet service provider.

It can hardly be blamed for the hacking incident. Eircom is, after all, only the latest casualty of such cyber-vandals. What it can be held accountable for, however, is its (in)action subsequently. First, it was slow to let users know there was a problem and then it channelled its thousands of Internet customers to helplines in search of new, safe passwords but failed to staff these helplines adequately.

The result? Thousands of angry customers still looking for new passwords or even answers to their calls two days after they were locked out of their systems. The company, which still has a stranglehold on telecommunications in the State, was even more culpable on the issue of executive pay.

At a time when its investors are nursing losses of one-third or more on their investment in the company, it has announced details of pay that put some of its executives at the top of the earning league for the past year in Ireland.

Worse still, the bonus was linked to a flotation price which the chief executive, Mr Alfie Kane, has already admitted was on the high side, in terms of the true value of the company in its peer group at the time.

No doubt, the institutions which control Eircom will vote through the package at its forthcoming a.g.m., but the small investor - the very people the State was so keen to bring on board when Eircom floated - are angry.

Dominic Coyle can be contacted at dcoyle@irish-times.ie