Ahern on the look-out for a new ComReg commissioner


26 Jul 2004

The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Dermot Ahern TD is currently on the look-out for a third member of the three-person Commission for Communications Regulation. The four-year contract comes with a salary of €132,302 per annum.

The position was last week advertised in Friday’s Irish Times as well as on the Government’s civil servant recruitment website (www.publicjobs.com) by the Office of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners.

The present gap in the three-person Commission came early this year following the departure of the previous regulator Etain Doyle after presiding at the helm of ComReg since deregulation of the telecoms market in 1998. The Commission currently includes Isolde Goggin and chairman John Doherty.

With a closing date for applications of Friday August 13, the ad said that the Minister for Communications was seeking an additional individual to help regulate the telcoms, postal, TV and radio spectrum markets.

Ideal applicants, it said, would have: “excellent judgement and objective decision making skills, negotiation skills, conflict resolution skills and influencing skills at a senior level in an organisation.”

As well as a good track record of previous achievement, the ideal applicant would also have “proven leadership ability together with the knowledge and experience to provide leadership within the sector and the capacity and aptitude to contribute actively as a member of the top management team in providing corporate leadership to the Commission.”

Up until last year ComReg was chaired by one person, but on the creation of a three person commission comprising Doyle, Doherty and Goggin it was proposed that the position of chairperson would rotate between various commissioners on an annual basis.

By John Kennedy