Me Dick Spring, the former Labour leader and an Eircom director, has yet to fulfil the pledge he gave at the company's annual general meeting to buy shares. Mr Spring will now be unable to buy shares until mid-November at the earliest because Eircom has entered a closed period in the run-up the publication of its half-year results.

Under stock exchange rules, directors are not allowed deal in shares during closed periods as they have access to price-sensitive information. Mr Spring was robustly criticised at the company's annual general meeting in Dublin over four weeks ago because he had not bought shares in the company. He responded by saying "I will buy shares in this company because I have confidence in it".

Eircom shares closed last night at €2.42, close to an all-time low. If Mr Spring had bought shares before the closed period started he stood to benefit from any rise in the shares after the release of the interim results and also the pending sale by KPN of its 21 per cent stake in the company.

Although KPN could technically proceed with the sale of its stake during the closed period, sources at Eircom say this is unlikely. Institutional investors would not support such a move, according to Eircom sources.

Mr Spring represents the employee trust that acquired a 15 per cent stake in the company at the time of the flotation. The trust voted against an executive remuneration scheme pushed through at the annual general meeting and which was supported by Mr Spring.