Shannon Airport’s mini-board

THE board of Shannon Airport has been trimmed down to just two people and it no longer includes former chairman, Brian O’Connell nor does it have an input from Shannon Development.
The board previously had nine members, Mr O’Connell, Patrick Blaney, Olivia Loughnane, Ray Gray, Dr Vincent Cunnane (CEO of Shannon Development), Mary Fitzgerald, Mark Nolan, Joe Buckley and Audrey Costelloe.
The new, streamlined board will hardly need to retire to the comforts of the airport’s boardroom for meetings; a small office will do just fine. The board now just consists of Niall MacCarthy, the airport’s acting director, and Ray Gray, DAA chief financial officer.
The move comes in advance of an announcement on Shannon’s future management by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, following on from the Booz and Company report. It’s widely expected that Shannon will be separated from the DAA but kept in public ownership.
This week, it was announced that Shannon’s passenger numbers had fallen again in 2011, for the fifth successive year. Last year the figure fell by seven per cent to 1.6 million.
In a statement this week, the Department of Transport confirmed the old board had departed.
“The term of the outgoing board of Shannon Airport Authority came to an end last December. Minister Varadkar is currently considering how best to structure the ownership and management structures of Shannon Airport to the best long-term advantage of the airport. Until deliberations on these matters have concluded he has decided to appoint a small interim board to oversee operations for the immediate future. This board comprises the following persons – Niall MacCarthy and Ray Gray.”
It is understood that there was acrimony within the ranks of the old board last year as a proposal on its behalf was made that Shannon be leased privately for a period of 15 to 35 years. Some members of the board claimed they had known nothing of this proposal until after it was made.
Michael Vaughan, chairman of the Shannon branch of the Irish Hotel’s Federation, said he felt a strong guiding hand is needed now more than ever.
“I hope this is a holding position and that it doesn’t continue for very long. With the Lynx project and the humanitarian aid hub proposals, Shannon needs a dynamic board. I hope that an announcement by the minister on the future of Shannon is imminent. I believe that he is due to come to the region shortly to meet with some stakeholders and I hope that a decision will be announced.”
Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes also called for a prompt announcement on Shannon’s future.
“It’s a big worry that it is being deferred and that a decision has not been made. We need immediate details on what he intends to do. Shannon is still being governed entirely by the DAA and the new figures which show another decline in passenger numbers in 2011 show how urgent this is.”
Fine Gael councillor Sean McLoughlin also said making an announcement soon is very important.
“Tourism operators and other people are making up their minds and Shannon is in danger of being left high and dry for 2012,” he said.
While it is very unlikely that the airport will be removed from State ownership, Minister Varadkar has promised that there will be changes and that the current rate of losses cannot be sustained.
“There is something here that we cannot ignore. Cork is losing between €10 million and €14m a year, Shannon is losing €8m a year. In the past it was sustainable because the profits from Dublin were sufficient to cover that. But that isn’t the case anymore. Regardless of whether Cork or Shannon remain within the DAA group, no matter what structural issues occur, there are going to have to be big changes at both airports because we cannot continue to have them losing the money they are now,” he said last October, in advance of receiving the Booz report.