A significant shake-up in the managerial structure of The Irish Times has been heralded by the announcement yesterday of Major Thomas Bleakley McDowell's retirement.
After almost 40 years at the helm of The Irish Times Group, Major McDowell (78) is stepping down forthwith as chairman, governor and member of The Irish Times Trust Ltd, and a member of the board of The Irish Times Ltd. Mr McDowell was chief executive of The Irish Times Ltd from 1962 until 1997, and was the main mover behind the newspaper passing from private ownership to control by The Irish Times Trust.
His departure, with the newly-created honorary title of "President for Life" of The Irish Times Group, marks the beginning rather than the end, however, of managerial reforms.
The chairman of the board of The Irish Times Ltd, Mr Don Reid, confirmed yesterday that he too would be leaving the company in the coming months. Mr Reid, who will be 70 next month, said he planned to retire by April.
In addition, as part of the restructuring plan outlined yesterday, a number of other members of the trust are due to retire or resign in the coming year. It is understood at least two such trustees have signalled their intention to step down already.
Of greater relevance to the operation of The Irish Times Ltd, the number of trustees - or "nominated directors" - sitting on the board of the company will be reduced from eight to three.
The move represents a major shift in power on the board from nominated to executive directors, of which there are at present nine, including the editor and acting managing director.
Aside from the reduction in the number of trustees on the board, voting rights will be revised to give each director one vote. Formerly, nominated directors had five votes each.
Nominated directors will, however, retain their power to veto particular decisions which impact on the "ethos, quality and standards" of The Irish Times.
In this way Mr Reid said the reforms were "designed to let the board of The Irish Times Ltd take full responsibility for the operations and profitability of The Irish Times Ltd, and keep the trust to a kind of oversight role to ensure we stick to the objectives, principles and ethos set out in the memorandum and articles".
In short, he said, the reforms sought to assist in the creation of a "modern, clean-cut" managerial structure which would replace that established in 1974 when the trust was set up, with a loan of £2 million, in order to preserve the independence of The Irish Times.
Discussions had been taking place for some time between the trust and the company about "modernising" their relationship, said Mr Reid. However, "like a lot of things, it was long-fingered", he said.
He added that "impetus" had been provided by the newspaper's current financial difficulties.
On November 6th last, the company announced that it needed to make annual savings of £17.5 million to deal with projected losses of £2 million this year and £17 million in 2002. The company is seeking 250 job losses from a staff of 710 in order to save £10 million in payroll costs.
Regarding Major McDowell's honorific title of president, Mr Reid said it was "a title and nothing else". He said no remuneration accompanied it.
As part of his stepping down, Major McDowell is to surrender to the trust his 10 "A shares", which enabled him to out-vote the full board on one issue only - that of his position as chairman of the trust.
Mr Reid said the shares, valued at just £1 each, would "cease to exist" either by being bought by the company or by another mechanism.
While the management of The Irish Times had attracted criticism recently, due to the financial downturn, the newspaper's editorial committee and unions were united yesterday in praising Major McDowell's contribution.
The chairman of the editorial committee, Mr Kieran Fagan, said "at its best The Irish Times is the Irish people talking to themselves, informing, debating, arguing, contradicting... Thomas McDowell played a huge part in bringing that about, and we are all in his debt."
Speaking on behalf of the Dublin Printing Group of Unions, Mr Seamus Dooley, Irish organiser of the National Union of Journalists, said "we acknowledge the crucial role played by Major McDowell in the development and survival of The Irish Times through the 1980s, and the retention of editorial independence".
Mr Dooley stressed, however, "it would be wrong to see his retirement as the end of reforms," adding there was a need for "formal trade union representation" on the board of both the trust and company.
Under the restructuring plan, The Irish Times Ltd will be able to appoint to its board a number of non-executive directors with expertise in business management or other relevant areas.
The reforms are to be finalised next month in a revision of the articles of association of the trust and company.
In a separate development, The Irish Times Ltd will start interviewing today for the post of managing director, which was vacated last month by Mr Nick Chapman.