EBS board members face harsh criticism from floor

At times yesterday afternoon it seemed as if the revolution was about to break out in the unlikely location of Dublin 4, with EBS non-executive director Ethna Tinney in the role of Liberty Leading the People.

Extra seating was brought to the ballroom of the Burlington Hotel where 1,200 members of what will soon be the Republic's sole remaining mutual society, gathered - in the main - to attack their board.

Ms Tinney, a radio producer with Lyric FM and a pianist, may not have managed to rally her board colleagues around her, but she certainly struck a chord with many of the EBS members who attended the meeting.

When at the outset chairman Mark Moran introduced the directors one by one, Ms Tinney was the only one to receive a round of applause. She bowed from the hips, first to the left, then to the right, like a true concert pianist.

Then it was down to the dirty business. An early male speaker from the floor described the remuneration received last year by chief executive Ted McGovern as "obscene" and "executive pornography".

A number of members said the society's staff had been sent out to tell members how to vote, and that this was reprehensible. When Mr Moran said this was not the case and that the society "has not advised anybody to vote in any particular way", his comment was met with jeers.

Ms Tinney spoke forcefully on the issue of peer reviews of board members. She said the confidential process involved directors awarding marks and making anonymous comments about each other. "Some not very nice comments were made about me," she said.

It was a practice that "smacks of the KGB" and her advice to anyone who was ever asked to take part in such a process was "don't do it."

She also said she had been "gutted" when hearing Mr Moran speak of how she was sent to a consultant to improve her performance on the board. "I'd like to say that it (the visit to the consultant) didn't change me one bit."

Mr Moran fought to keep control of the at times unruly meeting. He responded to criticisms of the board made by speakers from the floor, and was often followed by Ms Tinney giving her view.

At one stage non-executive director Barbara Patton queried what Ms Tinney had told the meeting but she was interrupted by Ms Tinney.

A male member said he didn't know Ms Tinney and didn't like classical music, but "the manner of her attempted demise is an absolute scandal". A woman said that if Ms Tinney was not re-elected, she would close her account with the EBS.

Mr Moran, for his part, strongly criticised the leaking of confidential board documents to the media and said the events of the past week or so had been very damaging to the society. The leaking of such documents was a breach of trust and of duty to the society.

He said he wanted to refresh the board. A speaker from the floor asked if by refresh he meant bring on people who agreed with him.

A woman in a red dress said it would have been better if an alternative to Ms Tinney had been put forward, and the members could have voted for one or the other candidate. In that way, the board would not have found itself urging members not to re-elect a director. A later woman speaker said she wanted to nominate the "elegant lady in red" for a position on the board. A later male speaker said he wanted the name of the elegant lady in red.

Senator Shane Ross, who has been publicly supporting Ms Tinney in recent weeks, made a lengthy address from the floor.

Afterwards member Mary Caffrey, wife of the EBS chief executive Ted McGovern, said she found it disturbing that Mr Ross was "campaign manager" for Ms Tinney.

"Shane Ross is a self-serving, publicity seeking individual, both as a journalist and a politician."

She said Mr Ross in his journalistic work was a "fantasist" who had campaigned against mutuality for some time.

Food, tea and coffee was available in an adjoining room, and members drifted back and forth during the three-hour meeting.