Five appointments have been made to the board of Eirgrid, the new State-owned company that will manage the national electricity grid, formerly managed by the Transmission System Operator function at the ESB.
The separation of the function follows the part-liberalisation of the electricity market last month. Companies and consortiums planning to supply electricity in the deregulated market had argued that the ESB's continued management of the National Grid would be anti-competitive, as it would have the power to switch power stations on to the network, according to the demand for electricity.
Chaired by Prof Eddie O'Kelly, professor of industrial engineering at NUI Galway, Eirgrid's board will include Ms Emer Daly, an accountant and finance director with insurance firm AXA Ireland, and Mr John Ronaghan, a former finance director at Ericsson Ireland.
Other board members are Mr David Mackey, a partner in property development firm Flag Properties; Dr Eamonn Cahill, a scientist with the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies; and Mr Daniel Tierney, chairman and founding director of the Cross pharmaceuticals group.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has already appointed the managing director of ESB National Grid, Mr Kieran O'Brien, as chief executive of Eirgrid. Subsequent chief executives will be appointed by the company's board.
Ms O'Rourke is expected to move quickly to establish Eirgrid formally by means of a statutory instrument.
