The DAA board has appointed a deputy chief executive at the State-owned airports group, staff have been told in an email that has prompted new questions about the future of chief executive Kenny Jacobs.
The appointment of Nick Cole to the newly-created position comes amid a deepening rift between the board and Mr Jacobs. Mr Cole is currently chief executive of DAA International, the company’s airport consulting arm, and a member of the DAA executive team.
“Nick will combine his new responsibilities with his current role,” DAA chief people officer Siobhán Griffin told more than 4,000 staff in a email circulated around noon on Monday.
“Since joining DAA group in 2018, Nick has successfully led our international business.”
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The email said nothing about Mr Jacobs or his role. Asked whether Mr Jacobs continues to carry all his functions as CEO, DAA had no comment.
However, the creation of the deputy chief executive position comes amid discussions on whether the DAA board should initiate a new investigation into Mr Jacobs’ conduct.
Although two formal complaints against him were not upheld by a senior barrister’s investigation during the summer, new issues emerged to raise board concern about the chief executive.
The formal complaints against Mr Jacobs were investigated by Mark Connaughton SC.
Despite serious concern about the new issues that emerged during and after his original inquiry, the board did not immediately investigate them because it opted instead to enter mediation talks with Mr Jacobs under the chairmanship of industrial relations troubleshooter, Kieran Mulvey.
[ Severance deal of near €1m for DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs off the tableOpens in new window ]
Those talks led to a draft exit deal in September under which Mr Jacobs was supposed to leave the DAA in January. He was to receive €960,000 in exit pay and the payment of legal fees built up during and after the Connaughton investigation.
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien in November refused to approve the deal, saying instead that the board and Mr Jacobs should pursue reconciliation.
That prompted a new round of talks between lawyers for the parties which ended without an agreement. The mediation deal then lapsed, setting in train new board discussions about Mr Jacobs’ future.
Mr Jacobs had indicated to the board in recent times that he still wished to reconcile with it but close observers in the company and in Government circles said reconciliation was unlikely.
The board had not responded to Mr Jacobs’ offer to reconcile as of late last week
In an October briefing for Mr O’Brien and Department of Transport officials, a DAA board delegation set out how concerns emerged about some of Mr Jacobs’ language and behaviour before directors reached the conclusion that he was unsuitable.
The breakdown in relations between the board and Mr Jacobs came less than three years into his seven-year term.
Although Mr Connaughton did not uphold the original protected disclosures against Mr Jacob, the DAA delegation told the Minister of further board concern about the emergence of other issues separate to those raised in the formal complaints.
These included, but were not limited to, questions over certain information from Mr Jacobs to board members. There was concern over proposed changes, later scrapped, to DAA policy on the provision of wheelchairs to passengers with restricted movement.
The meeting was told Mr Jacobs was offered an opportunity to consider his behaviour. However, DAA directors concluded he had not showed appropriate understanding of the issues or a way forward to address them.
When the board decided Mr Jacobs was unsuitable to continue, mediation was seen as one of three options. The alternatives included a full investigation into the other issues that had emerged after the protected disclosures. This came back into play when the mediation deal fell.
