Contentious issues are nothing new to Aer Rianta director Dermot O'Leary, whose links to Liam Lawlor have been questioned, reports Alison Healy.
Mr Dermot O'Leary's association with Mr Liam Lawlor is the latest controversy to follow Mr O'Leary since he first became involved with State boards.
Mr O'Leary (54) was first appointed to the board of Aer Rianta in October 1992 and was acting chairman at one stage. He was also chairman of the company's subsidiary, Aer Rianta International. In 1994, he was appointed chairman of CIÉ by Mr Brian Cowen, the then minister for energy, transport and communications, having served on the board for five years.
The appointment was for a five-year term but was controversially terminated after just nine months. On April 25th, 1995, the then minister for transport, Mr Michael Lowry, called Mr O'Leary to his office and told him he wanted to appoint a full-time executive chairman. Later that day, the secretary of the Department faxed Mr O'Leary a letter, thanking him for his agreement to resign. Mr O'Leary insisted he had not resigned and said his contract had been terminated prematurely. He started proceedings to challenge this dismissal.
Seven years later, the proceedings are still in the preliminary stages, according to the Department of Public Enterprise.
In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr O'Leary could pursue his claim that two senior civil servants were involved in a conspiracy to have him removed.
After dismissing Mr O'Leary, Mr Lowry was publicly critical of aspects of his chairmanship, including the sale of a CIÉ-owned site in Cork to Cork-based property developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan, and foreign travel undertaken by Mr O'Leary. These criticisms were firmly rejected by Mr O'Leary, who said he had carried out his duties in a perfectly honourable and proper way.
A further controversy erupted in 1995 when Mr Lowry alleged that three businessmen with links to Fianna Fáil had organised surveillance on him as a result of his efforts to reform business practices in the semi-State sector.
Mr O'Leary and Mr O'Callaghan threatened legal action against Mr Lowry for these allegations.
Mr O'Leary's involvement with State boards resumed in 1997 when he was reappointed to the board of Aer Rianta.
His links with Fianna Fáil have always been close. He is a member of the Fianna Fáil executive and has been closely associated with Dublin South Central Comhairle Ceantair.
Born in Dublin, he was educated in St Joseph's CBS in Fairview - the same school as former taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey.
He now lives in Dalkey, where he set up Crane Hire Ltd with his late brother in 1964. The company's website claims that Crane Hire Ltd has the most comprehensive fleet of mobile telescopic cranes in Ireland.