Mr. Geoffrey Meagher:

I am pleased to accept the invitation to meet with the committee this evening. I am honoured to accept the role of director and chairperson designate of Bord na Móna. It is an iconic Irish company with a proud tradition and a trusted brand name. I want to talk briefly about Bord na Móna. From a historical perspective Bord na Móna is a company that has derived great value and benefit from one natural resource, namely peat. It is now in the process of transformation going on to find further value from other resources. The company now has six divisions - peat, powergen, fuels, horticulture, resource recovery and the recently formed bio-energy business. I will speak about each of those briefly.

Peat, with more than 1,100 employees and a turnover of nearly €80 million, is the oldest business in the company and is primarily focused on the harvesting of peat, management of bogs and supply of peat to our major customers, including the ESB. It is facing the challenge of transitioning the business into a new regulatory environment for electricity generation post-2019 and ultimately the end of energy peat harvesting by 2030.

Powergen, with approximately 100 employees and a turnover of €82 million, is involved in electricity generation including at the power station in Edenderry and the development of renewable energy assets which currently involves wind farms.

Fuels, with 250 employees and a turnover of €74 million, is involved in the manufacture, development and sale of domestic heating products, including of course the iconic peat briquette. Due to changing consumer needs this business remains challenged.

Horticulture, with 250 employees and a turnover of €54 million, is concerned with the sale of horticultural products to the retail and professional markets in Ireland and overseas.

Resource recovery, with 400 employees and a turnover of €97 million, is a key enabler of national policy in terms of recycling, waste recovery and waste management.

Bio-energy has recently been set up to source and sell biomass for the Irish market. The business is developing a supply chain with a mix of imports and indigenous biomass.

Bord na Móna has a great history and a great association with communities, especially across the midlands of Ireland. These are communities of neighbours, suppliers, and employees. Indeed for many places in the midlands this company is the reason many communities were created and have been sustained. The mandate Bord na Móna has received from Government is clear. The company must support regional development in the midlands and sustainable employment in the region. This is a significant challenge, especially as the company exits peat production as nearly half of all Bord na Móna employees work in this area. As non-executive chairman, my role will be to remind management frequently that meeting this objective around jobs and employment is the number one priority for the company at this time. The second part of our mandate is ensuring that the company remains profitable and returns a dividend to the taxpayer, therefore making the right commercial decisions. The third and final part involves supporting the delivery of key strategic national policies, particularly in the areas of energy, carbon emissions, bog rehabilitation, biomass development and resource recovery. It is my intention that the board would help the company maintain its focus on this mandate into the future.

One of my other intentions as chairperson is to ensure that as the company changes the association between Bord na Móna, the bogs and the surrounding communities will remain important. Bord na Móna has always been about community and this will not change. The company provides many benefits to communities and the region. Amenity land, cycle and walkways, and the cultivation of biodiversity provide other tangible advantages to local communities. The economic value of these and other ecosystems services is increasingly being understood and accepted. Tourism also confers an economic benefit both in terms of employment and regional income generation.

In truth, however, it is difficult to place a euro value on these amenities that fully captures their real worth to the people who live near them and use them. As a company, we provide these because we recognise the need to give value beyond what we relate in our financial reports. Bord na Móna has a history of supporting community activities, whether that is through sponsorships of sporting, voluntary or cultural groups. Sustainability in this sense recognises that people have a range of needs, not just the economic, that enhance lives. For a company like Bord na Móna, we cannot be "of the community" unless we engage at this other level as well. It also makes sense from a business perspective. It is likely the reason Bord na Mona has a 100% record in progressing major planning applications to successful conclusions. If we are to maintain the support of communities, we must continue to engage with them in a meaningful way.

As we change, we will of course look to the 2,100 employees to continue being our most effective ambassadors. I have begun touring the company in recent weeks and have been impressed by the level of dedication and commitment to Bord na Móna exhibited by employees at all levels. The professionalism and expertise I have encountered so far are causes of optimism in the ability of the company to transition to a post-energy peat future.

I remind the committee that my appointment is effective from 22 October. Therefore, my knowledge of the company at this point is just five weeks. In that time, my key priorities have been: to commence the interview process for a replacement CEO; commence visits to key sites to understand the businesses and meet the people; meet representatives of the Government on stakeholder expectations; understand the various business segments and performance; and get to know board colleagues and key management.

I will speak a little about my background. I am from a farming background and a native of south Kilkenny. I trained as an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Kilkenny, spent two years with a private engineering company and, in 1975, joined Avonmore. My career from there to retirement, on reaching the company retirement age in 2009, was basically with the same company but with many changes along the way, some of the key milestones being: significant growth in Irish milk output up to the introduction of EU milk quotas in 1984; the decision to set up a plc in 1988 to access capital and expand overseas; the completion of 35 acquisitions and joint ventures over the following ten years; the merger of Avonmore and Waterford Foods in 1998 to form Avonmore Waterford Group and, subsequently, Glanbia; and the uniting of a co-op culture with that of a plc.

Today, Glanbia is a successful company with operations in many parts of the world. However, that was not achieved without a great deal of hard work, difficult decisions being made, difficulties with business sectors and the need to change and innovate continually. I operated in various roles within Glanbia over the years, including more than 20 years as group finance director and the last four years also as deputy group managing director.

I see many similarities between Glanbia and Bord na Móna. The heritage of both is rooted in rural Ireland. Despite international expansion, the Irish operations of Glanbia in the east of Ireland provide significant employment and support a vibrant dairy and farming community.

Since retiring from Glanbia, I have run my own consultancy business. My other activities are: board member and chair of the audit committee of Enterprise Ireland; board member and chair of the audit committee of One51 plc; board member and chair of the finance committee of the Bon Secours Health System; chairman of the finance and development committee of the Kilkenny co-op mart; and chairman of SME Finance and Leasing Solutions, a startup leasing company serving the SME sector. I am involved in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, having served as national treasurer for a five-year period up to 2012. I went on to serve as national president, also for a five-year period, which ended in May of this year.

I am honoured to be in attendance as chairman designate of Bord na Móna. I am aware that I follow in a long line of people who have given service to the company and the State in this role. It is a company with a proud history stretching back to the early days of the State when the country developed agencies and bodies necessary to sustain an independent Ireland. By 2030, we will be approaching the 100th anniversary of our establishment as a company by the State. We will be looking back on a first century marked in its early years by its development of energy peat and its recent ones by new sustainable businesses. I would like the common theme of our first century to be of a company that is rooted in the Irish bogs, delivering in a multitude of different ways for the State and the Irish people.

I look forward to answering whatever questions members might have.