Aer Lingus has appointed David Begg, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, as a non-executive director of the airline. This follows the expiry of his term as a director nominated by the company's ESOP Trustees.
Mr Begg had been the ESOT nominee on the Aer Lingus board since January 2008.
Under the December 2010 deal with the ESOT, the group's obligation to pay any further share of profits to the ESOT was ended and the ESOT distributed the group's shares which it had held to certain workers and former workers of Aer Lingus.
This means that the ESOT's shareholding has fallen below the percentage threshold entitling it to nominate any directors to the board of Aer Lingus.
To this end, Aer Lingus said that Michael John will also retire as an ESOT nominated director from the end of next month.
