{"id":287259,"date":"2026-01-16T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/287259\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:55:07","slug":"the-daa-kenny-jacobs-row-spills-into-court-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/287259\/","title":{"rendered":"the DAA-Kenny Jacobs row spills into court \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A once little-known Saudi<\/a> royal, prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, sent shock waves through the art world in late 2017 when he was unveiled as the mystery buyer of Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Salvator Mundi, which had sold just weeks earlier for a record-breaking $450.3 million (\u20ac386.5 million) at auction. <\/p>\n

Speculation then \u2013 and since \u2013 has held that the true purchaser was crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom\u2019s de facto ruler, who has elevated his distant cousin in the past decade to several prominent roles that were traditionally reserved for the Salman branch of the family.<\/p>\n

As Saudi Arabia\u2019s first minister for culture, prince Badr is a key figure in his boss\u2019s Vision 2030 project to diversify the oil economy and develop sectors like technology, tourism, entertainment, and logistics. <\/p>\n

While the 40-year-old is known to personally avoid the spotlight, he made an unlikely cameo appearance last week in court documents stemming from one of the biggest Irish boardroom bust-ups in recent years: between airport operator DAA<\/a> and its chief executive Kenny Jacobs<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In a bid to be reinstated in his job after being suspended last month, Jacobs said in sworn evidence that a trip he had made to meet \u201ccrucial and important Saudi business partners\u201d, including prince Badr, was now part of one of 20 lines of investigation by the DAA into its chief executive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis allegation seems to have been included in a deliberate attempt to cast unwarranted and baseless aspersions about my character and bona fides by suggesting that I was somehow deriving personal benefits from a business trip and\/or consuming lavish hospitality and somehow conflicting myself,\u201d he said, adding that he had informed DAA chairman Basil Geoghegan and checked with DAA\u2019s company security to confirm the trip was appropriate.<\/p>\n

\"ForFor now, Kenny Jacobs’s sworn evidence is the most detailed account to date of the long-running dispute \u2013 albeit only that of one side. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

The State-owned operator of the Dublin and Cork airports has management and consultancy contracts in Saudi airports. It also has airport retail operations there and a dozen other countries. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely concerned that rather than taking any reasonable steps to inquire about the actual facts behind this innocuous, genuine and important business trip \u2013 insofar as any such inquiry is necessary \u2013 the board has perversely elected to frame it as an allegation in the most damaging and pejorative way possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

For the record, he said, that while he did recall \u201cthere being reference at the meeting to a whiskey valued at \u20ac70,000 per bottle being as available at the hotel in question, [he] did not consume any of that whiskey nor was invited to.\u201d <\/p>\n

The board\u2019s decision to hire barrister Kelley Smith SC last month to investigate 20 new allegations levelled against Jacobs \u2013 and suspend him in the meantime \u2013 followed a decision by Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien in November not to sign off on a mediated exit package for the chief executive. <\/p>\n

That settlement, known to amount to almost \u20ac1 million, followed a months-long standoff between Jacobs and the board. Members of the board had expressed the view in a meeting with O\u2019Brien in early October that he was \u201cunsuitable for the position of chief executive\u201d, the chief executive\u2019s affidavit evidence said, even after a previous investigation, carried out by Mark Connaughton SC early last year, did not uphold two initial allegations against him. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my understanding and belief that what transpired at the meeting consisted, in large part, of a \u2018hatchet job\u2019 being conducted on me by members of the board,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He also alleges that Geoghegan went about soliciting complaints from senior DAA executives in the lead-up to the new investigation. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0DAA commits to pausing investigation into Kenny Jacobs pending hearingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI say and believe the solicitation of a large number of complaints\/allegations by board members has been done to achieve the highest prospect of there being an adverse finding of any kind, on foot of which the board can execute its decision that I will be removed from office,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Mair\u00e9ad McKenna SC, for DAA, told the High Court on Monday that the airport operator is \u201cabsolutely opposed\u201d to the application by Jacobs. The court heard that the company will file a responding affidavit by 6pm on Friday \u2013 with the case scheduled to come before the court on January 23rd, when it is expected that a hearing date will be set. <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for DAA declined to comment other than to confirm an intention to \u201ccomprehensively contest\u201d the application of Jacobs, a former Ryanair executive, who joined the group in early 2023. <\/p>\n

Initial investigation <\/b><\/p>\n

For now, Jacobs\u2019s sworn evidence is the most detailed account to date of the long-running dispute \u2013 albeit only that of one side. <\/p>\n

It stated that on February 4th last year, a complaint was made under protected disclosure rules by a woman staff member \u2013 referred to in the affidavit as reporting person one, or RP1, \u2013 alleging \u201cinappropriate behaviour on my part and that I was interfering with procurement processes\u201d. <\/p>\n

A second complaint, from a man referred to as RP2, \u201calleged that I was endangering an individual\u2019s health and safety due to misconduct\u201d. <\/p>\n

Geoghegan appointed a subgroup, comprising board members Risteard Sheridan and Paula Cogan, to consider the complaints. They appointed Connaughton on April 7th to investigate. <\/p>\n

Connaughton concluded that RP2\u2019s allegation that Jacobs engaged in workplace bullying, which caused harm to employees, including some having suicidal thoughts, was \u201coverstated\u201d, according to one of the excerpts from his report, quoted liberally in the 63-page affidavit. <\/p>\n

Regarding RP2\u2019s claim that Jacobs verbally abused and threatened to manage his performance, Connaughton concluded that \u201cwhile the conduct of the [relevant] meeting was not appropriate\u201d, it did not endanger the employee\u2019s health or safety. <\/p>\n

The investigator also did not uphold RP2\u2019s claims that Jacobs made sexually explicit comments about staff and passengers, and he regarded as \u201chearsay\u201d RP2\u2019s allegation that the chief executive harassed another named employee, according to the affidavit. <\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, it is my view that the core of RP2\u2019s expressions of concern are a number of personal grievances, which are largely unresolved,\u201d the Connaughton report is quoted as saying. <\/p>\n

Connaughton also rejected allegations from RP1 that Jacobs engaged in \u201csexist, misogynistic, racist, homophobic and ageist behaviours in [his] comments to or about employees\u201d on the basis that there was \u201cno reliable evidence to substantiate them\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said that much of RP1\u2019s list of \u201cserious allegations\u201d were accounts from conversations with others, some of which were said to have occurred more than two years before she filed her complaint. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned not only because of the passage of time but because RP1 admits she never sought to verify or even clarify with the individuals that she had accurately recorded what they are purported to have said, either then or later,\u201d Connaughton said. <\/p>\n

Connaughton said that one alleged witness to RP1\u2019s claims had no recollection of events that were referred to.<\/p>\n

However, it is also clear Connaughton did not speak to a range of witnesses either, as he said: \u201cIt is not unreasonable to expect that others might have similarly responded.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"JacobsJacobs (left) and Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien at the official opening of Dublin Airport\u2019s solar farm in 2025. Photograph: Alan Betson<\/p>\n

Jacobs alleges that he was due to attend the subgroup \u2013 on July 30th \u2013 to discuss the Connaughton reports, when he got a call at 7.50am that day from the DAA chairman, requesting that he not attend the meeting. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr Geoghegan stated that I \u2018should resign\u2019 and that he would get me an \u2018amazing deal\u2019 if I did,\u201d the affidavit alleges. \u201cMr Geoghegan also stated, with no elaboration, that new complaints had come to him \u2018out of the woodwork\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobs \u2013 represented by law firm Arthur Cox \u2013 subsequently entered a mediation process with DAA, chaired by industrial relations veteran Kieran Mulvey. <\/p>\n

This resulted in an agreement \u2013 reached in mid-September \u2013 that Jacobs would leave in early 2026. The Irish Times has reported that the exit package amounted to about \u20ac960,000. The mediated deal required ministerial approval. <\/p>\n

Jacobs took issue with what he claimed were damaging leaks around that time to the media, including The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

Specifically, he said 41 questions sent by Arthur Beesley, current affairs editor with The Irish Times, to the DAA press office on September 22nd led him to believe the reporter was \u201cimproperly provided\u201d with a DAA paper related to the mediation process \u201cwith the effect of further damaging and undermining my good name\u201d. His affidavit does not list the questions, noting that each relates to \u201cnew information\u201d that had not previously been made public. <\/p>\n

On October 29th, DAA\u2019s solicitors, McCann FitzGerald, wrote to Arthur Cox saying a DAA director had received a written report from a staff member of comments Jacobs allegedly made at a retirement event 12 months earlier. Jacobs said that he has \u201ca very real concern\u201d that the complaint was the result of active solicitation by \u201ccertain board members\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI emphatically reject the substance of the allegations which have been made, specifically that I told a story about working at Dublin Airport security and women passengers having to remove their hoodies,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Jacobs said he was \u201cshocked and personally shaken\u201d when the claims became the source of a media query from the Sunday Independent on November 8th. <\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cgenuinely shocked and in disbelief\u201d when he was passed an email from Beesley to the DAA press office on November 11th, suggesting \u2013 accurately, as Jacobs subsequently found out \u2013 that the Minister had declined to approve the mediated exit package. <\/p>\n

Jacobs wrote to each DAA board member on December 1st offering to enter a conciliation process. He added that he was \u201cutterly shocked\u201d by Beesley\u2019s reporting of this, and also the potential for the board deciding on a new investigation and suspension of the chief executive. <\/p>\n

Platinum privileges <\/b><\/p>\n

Jacobs said he learned on December 9th that professional services firm Deloitte had been hired to investigate suspected leaks of confidential information. <\/p>\n

He alleges that this appears only to have taken place when the Business Post reported in detail on DAA directors\u2019 usage of free access to the Platinum Services VIP terminal at Dublin since 2018. The report highlighted that Geoghegan, an investment banker, was the biggest beneficiary, availing of the service 238 times during the period at a commercial cost of almost \u20ac90,000. It also said that usage by directors was within the airport operator\u2019s rules. <\/p>\n

Jacobs expressed regret in the affidavit at threatening the disclosure of directors\u2019 use of platinum services in May 2025 in a conversation with Sheridan, chair of the subgroup presiding over the initial investigation. He claims it was an \u201cemotional outburst\u201d. Jacobs also denies improperly disclosing the information on Platinum usage to anyone. <\/p>\n

Jacobs said that he was \u201cshell-shocked\u201d coming out of a virtual meeting with Geoghegan early on December 15th, where he was informed that he was being suspended and a new round of allegations were being investigated. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt ambushed and humiliated by Mr Geoghegan,\u201d he said, adding that he was ordered to leave his office immediately, not communicate with any staff or access his email or DAA IT systems. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Suspended DAA chief Kenny Jacobs rejects claims of \u2018sexist, racist behaviour\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Claiming that he had been sick at a nearby coffee shop only minutes after having been told by the chairman to leave his office, Jacobs has told the court that the stress caused to him, his wife and his family by his suspension and matters leading up to it has been \u201cimmense\u201d.<\/p>\n

The board decided that Jacobs be placed off duty during the investigation because of the risk of interference with witnesses and retaliation and potential for leaking of confidential information to the media, according to minutes of a board meeting, quoted in the chief executive\u2019s affidavit. He denied that there were any such risks. <\/p>\n

Jacobs received a letter the same day outlining the new set of 20 allegations against him. <\/p>\n

He said that the first was a \u201cclear attempt\u201d to \u201cre-agitate an interpersonal issue\u201d between him and Sheridan during the Connaughton investigation. The second relates to the Business Post report. <\/p>\n

Another stems from private text messages to Geoghegan during the initial investigation. \u201cTaking these private text messages and reframing them as inappropriate communications causes me great concern,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Others, he claims, \u201coriginate from people who have either not asked for matters to be investigated, or positively asked that they not be investigated\u201d. <\/p>\n

Jacobs said he\u2019s not clear about what\u2019s claimed in the 12th allegation. It relates an email to the head of DAA International Nick Cole \u2013 who was appointed deputy chief executive last month and is currently the most senior executive working in the group \u2013 to relay to Saudi partners that DAA was withdrawing from an exclusivity agreement on a project in a \u201cfriendly way\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

Jacobs also said it\u2019s \u201cutterly unclear\u201d how the Saudi trip \u2013 where, he said, he met with business partners, prince Badr and other Government officials \u2013 has been framed as another matter for investigation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe implication that it was necessary for my employer to remove me from employment pending an investigation has clear and obvious connotations in respect of my conduct, character and integrity and generates a very specific stigma, which [in] this instance is wholly unfounded and unfair,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said that due to the stress that this has caused him, he had been prescribed medication by doctors that is \u201cnormally used for the treatment of anxiety and insomnia\u201d. <\/p>\n

DAA\u2019s counsel McKenna told the court on Tuesday that the investigator appointed to look into the second round of allegations would be instructed to hold off starting her work, pending the hearing of Jacobs\u2019s application. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat seems to deal with your concerns,\u201d Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger told lawyers for the chief executive, noting that the case will ultimately be presided over by Mr Justice Brian Cregan. \u201cYou can take it that the parties will be given an urgent hearing date.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A once little-known Saudi royal, prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, sent shock waves through the art world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,36563,38997,2914,26,18,19,17,40609,15112],"class_list":{"0":"post-287259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cork-airport","10":"tag-daa","11":"tag-darragh-o-brien","12":"tag-dublin-airport","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-kenny-jacobs","17":"tag-saudi-arabia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115903943805338466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}