Willie Walsh lands debt agency role

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/28/willie-walsh-ireland-debt-agency

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Ireland's finance ministry has appointed Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group, as chairman of country's National Treasury Management Agency's advisory committee.

Finance minister Michael Noonan also plans to appoint Walsh as chairman of the board of directors, a new role at the NTMA, which borrows on behalf of the Irish government and manages the national debt.

As chairman of the board, Walsh will set out the agency's targets and investment strategy. The ministry has not said if his appointment would affect the role of NTMA chief executive John Corrigan.

IAG, which owns British Airways and Iberia, said the appointment would not affect Walsh's role at the airline operator.

Noonan said Walsh was taking a "very important role, especially in the context of our exit from the EU/IMF programme of assistance and our return to the financial markets" and that Walsh was an ideal candidate given his position as a global business leader and his experience of financial markets.

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