Former MEP appointed to bank post

Former Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan is to replace Anne Counihan as the Irish representative on the Board of the European Bank for…

Former Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan is to replace Anne Counihan as the Irish representative on the Board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Department of Finance has announced.

Ireland and Denmark rotate the positions of full and alternate director on the board of the bank under a constituency agreement.

Mr Ryan was nominated by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.

A former Minister of State and senator, Mr Ryan served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency from 2004 to 2009. He is to replace Ms. Anne Counihan who has been the Irish representative on the Board of the Bank since February 2007.

Ireland is a founder member of the EBRD. The Bank, which is based in London, was established in 1991 to help develop a new private sector in the countries of the former Soviet Bloc.

The EBRD is the largest single investor in the region and mobilises significant foreign direct investment for the region in addition to the financing it provides itself. It is owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions.

Suzanne Lynch

Suzanne Lynch

Suzanne Lynch, a former Irish Times journalist, was Washington correspondent and, before that, Europe correspondent