MONDAY's board meeting began much like the previous five called to discuss the controversy over Dr Eddie Connor's pay package.
It was due to start at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Court Hotel in Ballsbridge. The chairman, Mr Pat Dineen, and the other 10 directors, apart from Dr O'Connor, were already installed in the Donnelly suite of meeting rooms on the second floor when Dr O'Connor arrived at the front door of the hotel just before 2 p.m.
As he crossed the lobby to the lift, Dr O'Connor declined to comment beyond saying "I won't talk and I won't walk."
Dr O'Connor carried with him 12 copies one for each board member of his 56 page rebuttal of the allegations against him.
The first hour and three quarters of the meeting was to be taken up with Dr O'Connor's statement. But first, in an unexpected move, Mr Dineen announced that he would not chair the meeting or participate in any final deliberations or vote and neither would Dr O'Connor.
The chairman's decision followed correspondence earlier in the week from Dr O'Connor's solicitor William Fry. On foot of his own legal advice Mr Dineen decided not to chair the meeting. Mr Mark Nugent, the longest serving director after Dr O'Connor and a worker director, was asked to take the chair.
The first 16 pages of Dr O'Connor statement was taken up with his record at the company. He pointed out that the company, which was losing £1.8 million a year when he joined nine years ago, is in line to make profits of £6.6 million this year.
He then turned to the specific question of whether his package complied with Government guidelines. The thrust of his response was that he had a valid package agreed with the former chairman Mr Brendan Halligan and that it was Mr Halligan's responsibility to ensure that Government guidelines were complied with.
The meeting resumed at around 5 p.m. to discus Dr O'Connor's response. Both Dr O'Connor and Mr Dineen took a full part in the discussion, with Mr Dineen pressing for a decision to be made that night.
At 9 p.m., Mr Dineen and Dr O'Connor stepped out of the room to allow the to remaining directors begin their final deliberations.
Dr O'Connor returned at 10 p.m. to be told that the other directors did not expect to reach any conclusion before 11 p.m. He waited around in the lobby for almost an hour before leaving for his home in Clonskeagh to await a phone call.
At 11 p.m. a handwritten statement from Mr Dineen was read out. It confirmed that neither the chairman or Dr O'Connor were taking part in the final deliberations, which were expected to take several hours more.
Over the next four hours, the directors sought to decide if Dr O'Connor's pay package had breached Government guidelines and what action should be taken. The to director quickly found themselves deadlocked with the four worker directors taking softer line that some of the non executive directors. Rather than face defeat on a resolution that was damming of Dr O'Connor, the non executives sought a compromise based on the agreement of what was factually correct and no recommended action.
Shortly after 3 a.m. Dr O'Connor returned to the hotel, having been summoned to hear his fate. Along with Mr Dineen he rejoined the meeting, where the resolution that his package "appeared to breach guidelines was voted on by the 10 directors it was passed unanimously.
