{"id":58247,"date":"2025-09-11T22:29:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/58247\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:29:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:29:33","slug":"transport-minister-tight-lipped-on-kenny-jacobs-board-tensions-at-daa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/58247\/","title":{"rendered":"Transport Minister tight-lipped on Kenny Jacobs board tensions at DAA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish Independent reported on Wednesday that the semi-state had been wracked by internal tensions, including at board level, around issues including the massive planning problems faced by Dublin Airport and Mr Jacobs\u2019 own management style.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the Transport Minister had intervened in the situation and whether the CEO had the minister\u2019s support, officials at the department declined to say. <\/p>\n

“Operations within state companies are matters for the boards of those companies. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate for the minister or department to comment on such matters,” a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

\"DAA<\/p>\n

DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs. Photo: Gerry Mooney<\/p>\n

The department declined to say whether the minister has engaged on the matter with Mr Jacobs or with DAA board chair Basil Geoghegan, an investment banker appointed to the post in 2018 by then minister Shane Ross and who oversaw recruitment of the current CEO. <\/p>\n

Mr Jacobs remains in place as DAA chief executive despite what are understood to be internal tensions. But well-informed sources said the former Ryanair executive is mulling over his future in light of what appears to be an impasse between his management and a significant number of board members over issues, including the airport\u2019s difficulties in removing planning restrictions that keep a lid on growth, but also Mr Jacobs\u2019 management style. <\/p>\n

The CEO has faced complaints from staff, which are understood to have prompted an internal review, according to sources. No complaints were upheld and no complaint process is underway, said the sources.<\/p>\n

Mr Jacobs told the Sunday Independent in a recent interview that he had brought a \u201ctake-no-shit\u201d attitude from his time in Ryanair. In that interview he addressed the sometimes stormy relationship that the airport authority had with Fingal County Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be sticking my elbows out because I think we have taken shit in the past and I think we now need to look after ourselves and do what’s right for our business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jacobs succeeded Dalton Philips as DAA chief executive in 2023 and was appointed to the position with a seven-year term and a total financial package of more than \u20ac370,000. DAA operates both Dublin and Cork airports but also has an extensive international business in the Middle East and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Before that, Mr Jacobs spent more than six years as chief marketing officer of Ryanair where, for a time, he was tipped by some as a potential successor to Michael O\u2019Leary.<\/p>\n

Ryanair is among the biggest customers of DAA at both Dublin and Cork airports. <\/p>\n

Its CEO, Michael O\u2019Leary, also declined to comment on the DAA row when he was asked about the issue at the Irish airline\u2019s annual general meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not getting sucked in,\u201d Mr O\u2019Leary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s speculation in the papers about somebody\u2019s position in a semi-state company. I don\u2019t know anything about it and I\u2019m not in a position to comment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Independent reported on Wednesday that the semi-state had been wracked by internal tensions, including at board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,10891,52,26,18,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-58247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-donal-odonovan","10":"tag-dublin","11":"tag-dublin-airport","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58247","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=58247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}