Aer Rianta secretary takes over at Dublin airport

THE new Dublin Airport Authority appointed Oliver Cussen as its acting chief executive yesterday at its first board meeting.

Mr Cussen was the former company secretary of Aer Rianta, whose powers were transferred to the new Dublin Airport authority as part of the break-up of the State’s airport management company into three independent units.

Mr Cussen will take over the duties of former Aer Rianta chief executive Margaret Sweeney, who resigned last month after she failed to get clarification from the Department of Transport about her future role once the break-up was finalised on October 1.

Outgoing Aer Rianta chairman Noel Hanlon did not reject media speculation that Ms Sweeney had received a severance package of €800,000.

Mr Hanlon said she got around twice her annual basic pay - the same as any employee leaving Aer Rianta would get.

The new Dublin Airport Authority decided yesterday to advertise immediately for a permanent chief executive and said Mr Cussen will perform the function until the position is filled.

But it did not make any official response to the latest findings of the Aviation Regulator that there is no case for raising charges at Dublin Airport.

“It was a very short meeting to deal with technical issue and no operational issues were discussed,” the authority’s spokesman said.

Under the Government’s plan to restructure, it is envisaged that Dublin will take on the entire debt of the Aer Rianta group, totalling just over €377 million. The Aviation Regulator’s report said if the restructuring plan leads to financial difficulties for the authority, the Government should bear the cost.