THE Minister for Energy, Mr Lowry has given the directors of Bord na Mona until tomorrow to reply to a set of detailed questions about managing director Dr Eddie O'Connor remuneration package. This follows the board's failure to make any recommendation after a marathon meeting on Monday night.

The Cabinet is understood to have been dissatisfied with the outcome of the meeting. The Government felt it was unable to take any action on foot of the resolution passed by the board which said that Dr O'Connor's package appeared to breach Government guidelines but did not recommend any course of action.

A departmental source said the Minister was now looking for "clear concise and unambiguous" answers to a series of questions. These are understood to include the five questions listed by Mr Lowry when he addressed the Dail yesterday.

The questions were. If the board had power to deviate from the Government's pay guidelines? Did it have power to delegate its functions in relation to pay to the chairman and for him to carry them out in a confidential manner? Why was there not a normal budget line in Bord na Mona for public affairs? Why was cash handed to the managing director to cover unvouched expenses? What were the fiduciary duties of the managing director and the chairman to the board?

Mr Lowry is seeking a direction from the board which would enable him to act on its findings and tabled a series of specific questions to the chairman, Mr Pat Dineen.

The answers should provide the information the Government needs to determine a course of action, which may include considering Dr O'Connor's position.

One possibility being suggested last night is that the Government make seek to reach a settlement with Dr O'Connor. Expressing regret that the matter had proved to be prolonged, the Minister told the Dail that the issues arising concerned more than a simple breach of pay guidelines. There were also matters of corporate governance and standards of integrity and behaviour which would be addressed by any board of any company".

In the Government guidelines on the pay of chief executives, Mr Lowry confirmed that the recommended rates of remuneration were intended to include salary and all other benefits, apart from superannuation and expenses, approximating to those applying in the Civil Service which it took as the norm.

"These conditions were accepted by the managing director in writing," according to the Minister. "On November 12th, 1993, July 7th, 1994, and July 6th, 1995, the former chairman affirmed to the then minister, Deputy Cowen, and to myself that Government guidelines on the pay of the managing director were being complied with. Clearly this was not so."