Tinney to address EBS agm before re-election vote

EBS non-executive director Ethna Tinney is to make a short address to the society's agm in Dublin today, before the vote on her re-election.

Ms Tinney, whose re-election the board does not support, hopes to take questions from the floor before the vote.

An EBS spokesman said there would be no difficulty in Ms Tinney making an address prior to the vote, or with questions being asked from the floor.

The agm takes place at 2pm today in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, and will begin with the chairman's review of the past year. The society has 280,000 members but votes rarely involve more than 5,000-6,000 members.

The society has been encouraging people to sign proxies for the past two weeks and media interest in the story may boost the number of members who take part. However, the issue is likely to be decided by less than 5 per cent of the overall membership.

The vote on Ms Tinney's re-election will be the first at the meeting, followed by a vote on increasing the remuneration of non-executive directors, and the re-appointment of the auditors, Ernst & Young, who are conducting the voting process.

Members were notified of the agm a number of weeks ago and sent proxy forms for the ballots. Subsequently, they were sent letters from Mr Moran and Ms Tinney, in which they both were able to outline their positions on Ms Tinney's election. Tomorrow's vote on non-executive remuneration will involve members being asked to approve an increase to €44,000 from €42,000 in the remuneration of ordinary non-executive directors. The membership will be asked to approve the payment of €65,000 per annum to new non-executive director Jim Ruane, who will chair the board audit and compliance committee.

It will be asked to approve the payment of €55,000 per annum to Cathal Magee, who will chair the board's risk committee. The chairman's remuneration will increase to €105,000 from €100,000 if the move is approved. Ms Tinney claims she is not being supported because of her stance on a number of matters but Mr Moran has said it is because the board has lost confidence in her.