Naughton asked to chair airport board

Mr Martin Naughton has been asked to chair the board of the Dublin airport authority to be created as part of the break-up of Aer Rianta. He is understood to be considering the request.

The successful businessman is among a number of well-known and lesser-known business figures being canvassed to sit on the boards of the three new authorities.

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, would like to announce the make-up of the new boards in the coming week or weeks.

He also wants to appoint the chairpersons of the three new boards to the board of Aer Rianta, which will continue to run Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports into next year.

Mr Naughton is one of the State's most successful business figures. He is the founder of the Glen Dimplex group, one of the world's leading electrical appliance manufacturers.

Meetings are to take place this week between Mr Brennan and the chairman of Aer Rianta, Mr Noel Hanlon, and with two directors of the company, Ms Freda Hayes and Mr Liam Meade, as Mr Brennan enters a crucial week in his plan to break up the airport authority.

Mr Hanlon was asked to resign but has refused. The same is true of Ms Hayes and Mr Meade. They have written to the Minister informing him they are willing to implement Government policy in relation to the airports.

Mr Brennan is understood to have offered Mr Meade and Ms Hayes positions respectively on the new boards that will eventually run Shannon and Cork airports.

While he has the power to remove Mr Hanlon from his post, it is not expected that he will take such a course. Any such move would have the potential to lead to a legal clash between the two men, something the Minister is likely to want to avoid.

Other business figures who have been asked to consider joining the boards of the new airport authorities include Mr Sean Fitzpatrick and Mr Pascal Taggart, both of whom have been asked if they would be interested in being members of the Dublin board. Mr Reg Freake, a senior executive with Dell Computers, is understood to have been asked about joining the new Shannon board.

The nine-member board of Aer Rianta currently has two positions vacant. The resignations of Ms Hayes and Mr Meade would create room for four new appointments, including the three chairpersons of the new airport authority boards.

The Aer Rianta board has three worker directors. A similar level of work representation will exist on the new boards.

Mr Brennan is understood to be in favour of three-year appointments to the new boards as against the more normal five-year period.

He is also anxious to appoint business people with the requisite qualifications rather than political appointments. For each airport board he is thought to be looking for persons who could variously provide experience of regional, national and international issues.

The Dublin board will be by far the most influential board of the three to be appointed, given the size of the airport's operations as against those of Shannon and Cork.

Last week Mr Brennan held a lengthy meeting with union representatives to outline his plans for the airports. Aer Rianta unions have already held a protest action to express their view of the Minister's plans.