Dr Michael Smurfit, chairman of Telecom Éireann (now Eircom) between 1979 and 1991, was less than ringing in his views of the prospect of the teleco taking another spin on the stock exchange merry-go-round.

Since first flotation in 1999, Eircom has paid its senior executives, investors and advisers millions while slipping ever backwards in terms of technology.

It is a sharp contrast to Dr Smurfit who took on the Eircom gig for free and was a ground-breaking chairman in terms of upgrading the business’ technology, despite some controversy towards the end of his tenure.

In town last Friday to pick up a gold medal at the Irish Exporters Association awards, Dr Smurfit was not overly optimistic about Eircom’s prospects as it prepares to reshuffle its ownership yet again.

“When Eircom was privatised first, if I had of been involved in it, I would have insisted that, as part of the privatisation process, they had to keep up with technology,” Dr Smurfit said.

“This would have stopped the company being stripped of dividends. They should have been forced by the terms and conditions of privatisation that they had to stay up with whatever technology was coming down the pipeline.

“They didn’t do that because they had paid so much money for it and had huge interest bills. This brought the company low. I don’t know how many times it changed hands,” he said.

One of the hands who profited from Eircom before passing it on again was, of course, Sir Anthony O’Reilly.

Dr Smurfit, as O’Reilly would have if their positions were reversed, stayed silent on this detail. Instead he praised O’Reilly for his many achievements.

The generation both men come from, steeled in much harder times, know that life has its downs, as well as ups.