Mr Kyran McLaughlin, a senior partner with Davy Stockbrokers, is one of the most powerful men in Irish stockbroking.

Within the firm Mr McLaughlin has specific responsibility for corporate finance activities. Davys has been involved in some of the biggest corporate finance deals in recent years as it includes among its clients most of the largest Irish publicly listed companies including parent company Bank of Ireland, Esat Telecom, Fyffes, Indo News and Media, and Smurfit.

Davys was founded by John and Eugene Davy in the earlier part of this century. Citicorp bought a 29.9 per cent stake in the company in 1985, at a time when it was still contrary to regulations for a bank to hold a stake in a stockbroking firm of greater than that amount.

When that regulation was dropped, the Bank of Ireland bought control of the stockbrokers for a reputed £20 million. The shareholders at the time retained a 10 per cent stake.

Since then Davys has consolidated its position as the State's foremost stockbroking company with the largest market share in bonds, equities and corporate finance.

In 1993 Davys was the subject of Dublin and London Stock Exchange inquiries concerning its handling of the sale of government owned shares in Greencore. The sale was handled by a team headed by Mr McLaughlin.

The stockbroking firm was to sell 25.4 million Greencore shares at 275p each, to raise £70 million for the Exchequer. On the day the shares were to be sold, the government was informed at lunchtime that it had been a success.

However, over a quarter of the shares had not yet been sold. When it could not sell the 7 million shares, they were taken up by companies associated with three directors of the firm: Mr McLaughlin; Mr Brian Davy; and Mr Tony Garry.