The Minister for Public Enterprise has rejected Opposition claims that Eircom shareholders were duped and misled at the time of the company's flotation. Speaking in the Dáil on a Fine Gael Private Member's motion criticising her handling of the flotation, Mary O'Rourke said that the risks of share ownership were adequately highlighted in the prospectus at the time of the offer.
Minister O'Rourke was responding to Fine Gael's Ivan Yates, who said that she had failed to convey to potential purchasers the likelihood that KPN and Telia would sell their shareholding at the earliest possible date. Deputy Yates also said that it was clear the Eircom management were in dispute with the Government as to the correct value of the company. He called on Minister O'Rourke to publish the report by ABN Amro for Eircom on the shares' real worth, which was compiled prior to the flotation.
The minister replied that the price range was agreed by the Government and the company. She also said that there was no question of the ABN Amro report being suppressed, as it had received widespread media coverage at the time.
