NEW chairmen have been appointed to the ESB and An Post by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry.

Mr Billy McCann, a former managing partner of accountants Craig Gardner Price Waterhouse, has been appointed chairman of the ESB. A former chief executive of Waterford Foods, Mr Stephen O'Connor, is the new chairman of An Post.

The new chairmen both take over organisations which have undergone substantial restructuring and reorganisation to meet changing market conditions.

The board of An Post recently accepted consultants' recommendations calling for a shake up of management structures and a much sharper focus on meeting customer needs.

A major cost and competitiveness review at the ESB, aimed at cutting running costs, is expected to result in 2,000 redundancies out of a core workforce of 9,000; people.

Mr McCann's wide management and financial skills and his deep knowledge of ESB matters will be invaluable in helping ESB through the process of change required because of European Union deregulation, Mr Lowry said.

Mr O'Connor has the vision to lead An Post in carving out a viable role for a national postal service in the age of the information superhighway, he said.

Mr McCann, who has been a member of the ESB board since 1986, replaces Mr Paddy Moriarty who retired earlier this month. A chartered accountant, Mr McCann (51) has been chairman of the audit committee of the ESB board for a number of years. He was managing partner with accountants Craig Gardener from 1987 until 1995.

In March 1985, Mr McCann was appointed administrator of the Insurance Corporation of Ireland by the then government. He is a member of the insolvency Practitioners Association and the Institute of Taxation in Ireland.

Mr O'Connor replaces Mr Philip Lynch who resigned recently to take up the position of chairman of An Bord Bia. A native of Glenmore, Co Kilkenny, Mr O'Connor (66) was chief executive of Waterford Foods until he retired last year. He remains on the board of the company and is chairman of Heitons and a director of National Irish Bank (NIB).

Mr O'Connor said yesterday that he saw "no real conflict" between his new role at An Post and his directorship of NIB. The organisations compete in the savings market.

Asked about a possible conflict of interest, Mr Lowry said: "NIB operates under banking licence from the Central Bank. Strategic decisions on savings services offered by An Post are not the responsibility of the board of An Post. Such decisions are made by the National Treasury Management Agency and the Minister for Finance.