Mr David Palmer, Independent News & Media director responsible for bringing the Citywest printing plant on stream, will return to the UK. An Independent spokesman said Mr Palmer would remain an executive director of the group although he would not be involved in the running of the British end of the business, which comes under the control of another Independent director, Mr Brendan Hopkins. He will have a "portfolio at large", the spokesman said.

Mr Palmer is an Independent nominee on the board of Chorus, Independent's 50 per cent-owned cable TV operation in Ireland. There has been periodic speculation about Mr Palmer's future with Independent from the end of 1998. As part of a management reshuffle then, he was replaced as managing director of Independent Newspapers (Ireland) by Mr Gavin O'Reilly, a son of Independent executive chairman Dr Tony O'Reilly. As part of that reshuffle, Mr Palmer was appointed project director for the Citywest project.

At the time, this was seen as, at best, a move sideways for Mr Palmer. Questions over his longterm future resurfaced last April when he sold almost his entire shareholding in the group for £1.7 million (€2.16 million). He also sold his house in Sandymount last year.