DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs has been suspended on full pay, setting in motion a new investigation into his conduct after months of turmoil in the State airports group.
The move late on Tuesday raises the possibility of Mr Jacobs taking an action in the High Court in a bid to block his suspension from the operator of Dublin and Cork airports.
However, his intentions were not immediately clear. Mr Jacobs did not take questions when reached by phone, saying: “I can’t talk, sorry.”
The development follows prolonged disruption after new issues emerged when a barrister, Mark Connaughton SC, was investigating two formal complaints against Mr Jacobs in the spring and summer.
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Although Mr Connaughton did not uphold the original complaints, the new issues prompted board anxiety about Mr Jacobs’s role as chief executive and ultimately led directors to conclude he was unsuitable for the role.
“The board has asked me to share with you today that our CEO will take some time out of the business,” said a note emailed by DAA chief people officer Siobhán Griffin to more than 4,000 staff at about 9pm on Tuesday.
“In combination with the DAA executive, the recent appointment of Nick Cole as deputy CEO ensures there will be continuity of leadership throughout this period.”
Although the note did not elaborate on the circumstances, two people briefed on the situation said Mr Jacobs had been suspended pending an investigation. The terms of reference remain unclear.
Mr Cole became deputy chief executive last week, shortly after the board told Mr Jacobs of its intention to suspend him.
The suspension follows a DAA board decision to endorse the recommendation of a board subgroup chaired by a DAA worker-director, Mark James Ryan. Mr Ryan, a Siptu member, is also chairman of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions national worker director group.
Neither DAA chairman Basil Geoghegan nor senior independent director Risteard Sheridan were members of Mr Ryan’s subgroup.
Mr Geoghegan, a businessman, was heavily involved in managing the rift between the board and Mr Jacobs. Mr Sheridan led an earlier subgroup that examined the original complaints against Mr Jacobs and appointed Mr Connaughton.
The suspension followed a DAA board meeting on Monday, at which Mr Jacobs made a submission challenging the board.
One figure familiar with that encounter described “robust” engagements with Mr Jacobs and his legal representative.
The board went on to consider Mr Jacobs’s submission but there was no breakthrough to end the rift.
A close observer described hours of “tick-tacking” between lawyers on Tuesday, at a time when business usually winds down for Christmas.
Eight days had passed since the board served notice of suspension.
In a separate note to the Oireachtas Transport Committee, DAA publicly acknowledged for the first time the likelihood of the company facing legal issues in the coming weeks.
Citing an invitation to go before the committee on January 21st, DAA said it had high respect for the panel and remained “very willing” to attend at the appropriate point.
“However, given ongoing matters that have not yet reached a conclusion and the inevitable legal constraints that would impose on DAA attendees, we are not in a position at present to confirm if DAA, either through an executive or a director, will be able to engage with the committee on the requested date,” the company told committee chairman Michael Murphy, Fine Gael TD for Tipperary South.
The board did not previously investigate the new issues because it opted instead to enter mediation with Mr Jacobs under the chairmanship of industrial relations troubleshooter, Kieran Mulvey.
Those talks led to a draft exit deal in September under which Mr Jacobs was supposed to leave DAA in January. He was to receive €960,000 in exit pay and a separate sum for 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 the discussions which culminated in the recommendation from Mr Ryan’s board subgroup and Mr Jacobs’s suspension.
