Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has said he found DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs to be “very committed” and has not yet received a formal proposal about his early exit from the semi-State airport operator.
Mr Jacobs, who heads the company that manages Dublin and Cork airports, has been involved in a dispute with the board of the DAA, leading to negotiations that have reportedly concluded in a mutually agreed exit package worth close to €1 million.
“My personal experience in dealing with Kenny, I found him very good. He was very committed and remains very committed,” Mr O’Brien said on Thursday.
“I’m not going to say anything more than that because it is a sensitive time and these matters are being worked through,” he said.
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Why has the DAA board fallen out with chief executive Kenny Jacobs?
The Minister confirmed he had not yet received a proposal for Mr Jacobs’ exit from the State-owned DAA, which he would need to sign off on. “I have not received any proposals formally, when I do I’ll have a look,” he said.
The proposed exit deal follows a period of tension between Mr Jacobs and the wider board, chaired by Basil Geoghegan. There had been intense board scrutiny of the chief executive’s management style. Mr Jacobs (51), a former Ryanair executive, took charge of DAA at the start of 2023.
Industrial relations veteran Kieran Mulvey had been called in to try to mediate the deteriorating relationship between Mr Jacobs and the board of the DAA. Negotiations later turned to a potential agreement that would see the chief executive depart the semi-State company.
Separately, Mr O’Brien said he will soon bring a memo to Cabinet on his plans to lift restrictions capping Dublin Airport’s capacity at 32 million passengers a year. It is expected the matter will be brought to Government colleagues for discussion in the first week of October.
Mr O’Brien said it would take between 10 and 12 months for legislation to remove the passenger cap to be drafted and then passed by the Oireachtas.
The air traffic limits were a planning condition imposed when Dublin Airport was granted approval to build a second terminal in 2007.
Airlines and the DAA have pushed for the cap to be removed in recent years, arguing it is limiting one of the main transport routes into the State. The cap has been temporarily suspended while a legal challenge taken by airlines is considered by European courts.
“We’re looking at getting approval to draft the legislation in the coming weeks” Mr O’Brien said.
“There will be a lot of interest in this too and it’s obviously got to be balanced,” the Fianna Fáil TD said. Mr O’Brien was speaking in Brussels on his way into a meeting of EU environment ministers.
Meanwhile, DAA has promised staff 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.
“While board matters are confidential, we want to reiterate that Kenny is and remains DAA’s CEO. In the event of any mutual agreement being agreed and approved, we will update you. As always, our focus is, and will continue to be, on our business, passengers and customers, and any change would take place over an agreed timeframe.”
Ms Griffin added that Mr Jacobs, the executive team, and board are “fully aligned in the focus on business-as-usual matters”.
