One of the two government nominees appointed to the board of Anglo Irish Bank to help "clean up" its image remains on the payroll of a PR company which acts on behalf of the Quinn Group, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

In a revelation that has prompted the Labour party to express fresh concerns about the way in which such appointments were made, former Fine Gael leader and Minister for Finance Alan Dukes has confirmed that he provides public affairs consultancy services on a contract basis to WHPR.

WHPR acts as the PR agency for the Quinn Group, whose owner Seán Quinn is one of the bank's major shareholders.

He has been the focus of significant controversy in recent months, including an investigation by the Financial Regulator into certain share dealings undertaken by him and family members.

When contacted by this newspaper, Dukes stressed that he does not provide consultancy services to the Quinn Group "or about that Group and have never had any dealings with them".

"Matters relating to the Quinn Group's dealings with Anglo Irish Bank were the subject of media comment for some time before I was invited to become a member of the board of that bank," he said. "Over a professional career of 42 years, 21 of them in politics, my professional integrity has never been called into question."

The appointment of the government nominees to the recently nationalised bank is seen as key to improving the Irish banking system's international reputation.

However, Labour deputy leader Joan Burton TD said she was concerned that the procedures surrounding the appointment of the government nominees were not sufficiently thorough when it came to identifying potential conflicts of interest.

"I would be entirely satisfied with Mr Dukes' integrity, nobody is questioning that," she said. "What is open to question is the procedures for appointing these nominees. There should be accountability and transparency. The appropriate place for this would be scrutiny by the Dáil's Finance committee, in my opinion."

When asked if it was aware that WHPR acts on behalf of the Quinn Group, a spokesman for the Department of Finance said Dukes was "subjected to the normal process of clearance by the Financial Regulator before being appointed by Anglo to its board."

The Sunday Tribune also asked the department if it was happy that the process of clearance by the regulator was sufficiently rigorous to identify any potential conflict of interest issues.

In response, the spokes­man noted that the chair of the regulatory authority has previously said that it is examining "a broad range of issues in relation to the system of financial regulation and the lessons emerging from the last 18 months".

The regulator is currently investigating the circumstances in which Quinn and his family unwound an indirect 25% interest in Anglo Irish Bank last year.