Philip Lynch (born 1946) is an Irish businessman who has held the position of chief executive at two Irish public limited companies and multiple senior directorships including chairman of the board of

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...

. In October 2010, he was forced by the then Irish minister for health,

Mary Harney Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...

, to resign his position as chairman of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board over his desire to relocate the new Irish children's hospital from Dublin city centre to a site near the M50 motorway.

Background and education

Lynch was born at

Innishannon Innishannon or Inishannon () is a large village on the main Cork (city), Cork–Bandon, County Cork, Bandon road (N71 road (Ireland), N71) in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on the River Bandon, the village has grown d ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. He was educated at Hamilton High School, County Cork, Copsewood College in County Limerick and studied accountancy and economics at Waterford Regional Technical College.

Business career

Lynch formerly served as the chief executive of

IAWS ARYZTA AG is a food business based in Zurich with operations in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It is incorporated in Switzerland and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (the Zurich Stock Exchange). It discontinued its listing on Eu ...

, a non executive director for ARYZTA AG and A.Hiestand Holding AG , the chief executive officer and Executive Director for One51 plc , and as the director for Irish Pride Bakeries Ltd. . After 1995, he formerly served as the Independent non-executive director, a Member of the Nomination Committee and a Member of the Remuneration Committee for FBD Holdings plc. and was the Non-executive director and Director of Irish Food Marketing for Irish Life & Permanent Group Holdings plc from 2003-2005. From 2004 to the present day Lynch worked for Heiton Group plc and C&C Group plc. Currently, he is the non executive director of Heiton Group plc as well as a Nominations Committee Member and Remuneration Committee Member for the company, and, simultaneously, is also the non-executive director, a Chairman of Sub-Committee, a Chairman of Remuneration Committee, and a Nomination Committee Member for C&C Group plc.

Children's hospital controversy

In 2007, he was appointed by Minister for Health,

as chairman of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. This was to be a €650m project to build a new national children's hospital adjacent to the

Mater Misericordiae University Hospital The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal an Mater Misercordiae), commonly known as the Mater ( "matter"), is a major teaching hospital, based at Eccles Street, Phibsborough, on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is managed b ...

in Dublin city centre. The new hospital would amalgamate the secondary and tertiary care functions of three existing children's hospitals in Dublin:

Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin (CHI at Crumlin; ga, Sláinte Leanaí Éireann ag Cromghlinn) in Drimnagh, Dublin is Ireland's largest paediatric hospital. CHI at Crumlin is so called because it is located ''at'' Crumlin. However it is ...

;

Temple Street Children's University Hospital Children's Health Ireland at Temple Street ( ga, Sláinte Leanaí Éireann ag Sráid an Teampaill) is a children's hospital located on Temple Street, Dublin, Ireland. It is a teaching hospital of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dubl ...

; and the National Children's Hospital at Tallaght Hospital. In 2010, Lynch met the Crumlin Hospital Foundation to discuss the possibility of relocating the new hospital to the Crumlin Hospital site. He also met with property developer Noel Smyth to discuss relocating the hospital to a site outside the M50 owned by Smyth. When Lynch sought to present to the board a proposal to build the new hospital on Smyth's land, he was obliged to resign his position by Mary Harney. He was replaced as chairman by businessman John Gallagher. In March 2011, after a new health minister was appointed following a general election, Lynch went on radio to make the case that the a city centre location for the new hospital would be inaccessible and have parking difficulties. He said that the 'people who designed the M50, when that was agreed on, everything was going to happen outside of that' and described the city centre as a '

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

'. He described the decision to locate the hospital in the city centre as 'political'.

One51 shareholder revolt

In 2010, Philip Lynch was paid €1.4m including bonus as chief executive of One51 plc. A shareholder revolt ensued at the company's AGM in July. Rebel shareholders led by Gerry Killen, Alf Smiddy, Mike Soden and Peter Brennan, criticised Lynch's remuneration in a year in which the company reported a loss of €11m and challenged his reappointment. Lynch survived the revolt.

Court case over bank loan

In March 2011, a court hearing was held in relation to an unpaid loan for €25m owed to AIB by Lynch, his wife and four children. The loan was secured on land in

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. In his defence, Lynch says that the loan was made on a non-recourse basis. On 8 December 2011 the Irish Courts found in favour of AIB.

One 51 Dismissal

On 1 July 2011, Lynch was apparently dismissed from One51. A drop in share price, shareholder discontent with his remuneration package and a Revenue investigation into the routing of patent royalties into a bonus scheme which was paid directly to himself and other individuals were believed to have contributed to Lynch's dismissal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Philip 1946 births Living people Businesspeople from County Cork Irish chief executives Alumni of Waterford Institute of Technology