DAA has turned down an invitation for its chief executive, Kenny Jacobs, and chairman, Basil Geoghegan, to appear before the Oireachtas transport committee next week as the airport operator awaits political sign-off of the CEO’s almost €1 million planned exit package.
Meanwhile, sources say that the board did not have any discussion relating to the CEO’s position at a routine meeting in Cork that concluded at lunchtime on Friday.
DAA responded to the Oireachtas transport committee’s invite by saying that it was not in a position to engage given “ongoing matters that have not yet reached a conclusion and the inevitable legal constraints that would impose on DAA attendees”.
“Naturally, we would be very willing to appear before the Committee at an appropriate point in the future,” it added.
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A spokeswoman declined to comment on the topics of discussion at the board meeting.
DAA’s board reached an exit agreement with Mr Jacobs on Tuesday, which would see him leave the operator of the Dublin and Cork airports by mutual agreement with an exit package of close to €1 million, sources said earlier this week. Still, he is set to remain in his role until the end of the year.
The deal, reached after weeks of mediation between both sides following the emergence of a serious rift, will need to be ratified by Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.
The accord followed a period of tension in recent months between Mr Jacobs and the wider board, chaired by Basil Geoghegan. There had been intense board scrutiny of the chief executive’s management style.
DAA promised staff on Thursday it will update them “in the event of any mutual agreement” being approved Mr Jacobs.
“We recognise that the recent coverage, speculation and commentary surrounding our CEO and board may be unsettling, not least when family and friends are asking you questions that you can’t answer,” DAA’s chief people officer, Siobhán Griffin, said in an email to staff on Thursday, seen by The Irish Times.
Ms Griffin added that Mr Jacobs, the executive team, and board are “fully aligned in the focus on business-as-usual matters”.
