Today in the press

ANGLO DUO ATTENDED KEY DDDA MEETING - The Irish Times says Seán FitzPatrick and Lar Bradshaw sat in on the board meeting of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) that approved its investment in the €412m Irish Glass Bottle site deal in 2006, despite the involvement of Anglo Irish Bank.

The paper says Mr FitzPatrick was at the time chairman of the bank and a non-executive director of the DDDA, while Mr Bradshaw was chairman of the authority and a non-executive director of the bank, which financed the deal. The conference-call meeting was held at 8am on October 24 2006. The Irish Times says the only item on the agenda was the joint deal with developer Bernard McNamara.

Mr Bradshaw said at the outset he had been told by Mr McNamara the previous evening that he was in discussions with the Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank in order to secure the acquisition funding. Mr Bradshaw advised the board of his non-executive role with Anglo, as did Mr FitzPatrick. They said they would not be involved in executive decisions in the bank.

The paper says the minutes of the board meeting - which were sourced under the Freedom of Information Act by Phil Hogan, Fine Gael's spokesman on the environment, heritage and local government - show that the DDDA board concluded that no material conflict of interest existed in respect of the participation by the directors in the discussion and decision on the proposed acquisition.

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DEVELOPER TO OFFER TO BUILD BOHS STADIUM? - The Irish Independent reports that property developer Paschal Conroy is believed to have mooted building an €18m stadium for Bohemians FC in exchange for the club's Dalymount Park land.

The paper says the developer's play for the land deal comes as Bohemians' existing €58m deal with troubled builder Liam Carroll looks increasingly perilous, given the collapse of much of Mr Carroll's property empire.

The Indo says Mr Conroy has a difficult history with Bohemians, having successfully waged a legal battle to get 250 square metre of the stadium site held in a trust, pending a final decision on a deal that was negotiated but never concluded.

He wants the land for his redevelopment of the adjoining Phibsboro shopping centre, but Bohemians want the way clear for Mr Carroll to develop the entire site so the club can get a new €20m stadium, plus a €38m windfall. The paper says it is understood that Mr Conroy is now proposing to build the club an €18m stadium himself, with another €13m payable in the event that Mr Carroll can't complete the purchase of the rest of the site.

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BIG CITY FIGURES LINKED TO ITV JOB - The Guardian says ITV's search for a new chairman may be nearing an end, with heavyweight City figures including John Peace, the chairman of Standard Chartered, emerging as potential candidates.

Peace has been linked to the ITV role alongside the chairman of HMV Robert Swannell, the chairman of Carphone Warehouse John Gildersleeve, and John Nelson, former chairman of investment bank CSFB Europe. The paper says Bob Wigley, the former head of Merrill Lynch in Europe, now chairman of Yell, has also been approached.

Michael Grade announced in April that he would step down as executive chairman and originally planned to stay on as part-time non-executive chairman with a new chief executive working under him, despite pressure from shareholders who wanted him to leave ITV.

The company has also been searching for a new chief executive for nearly six months but the favoured candidate, HMV's Simon Fox, turned down the job over the summer, and talks with the former BSkyB boss Tony Ball broke down acrimoniously in late September.

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BoE MOVE FUELS UK ECONOMY FEARS - The Times says the decision by the Bank of England to print a further £25 billion to stimulate growth has heightened fears over the fragility of Britain's economy.

The paper says the decision by the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to take the total quantitative easing stimulus to £200 billion came as an influential think-tank said that Britain had failed to emerge from recession in October.

The Times says economists had already been shocked that Britain remained in recession in the three months to September, contracting 0.4%.

The paper quotes the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) as saying that output had continued to fall in October, dampening hopes that the economy will return to growth in the final quarter of the year.