State airports company DAA has been left with a further vacancy on its board after the term of businessman Peter Cross ended this week.
The news comes just weeks after former chief executive Kenny Jacobs left in a voluntary deal with the company responsible for Cork and Dublin airports following a standoff with the board and High Court litigation.
The Department of Transport confirmed that corporate financier and company director Cross had served a full five-year term on the DAA board, which ended on March 3rd.
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has written to Cross to acknowledge his contribution to the board over the period of his tenure, added a spokeswoman.
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Attempts to contact Cross for a comment were unsuccessful.
His departure brings to five the number of vacancies on the board at a time when the company faces several challenges.
A proposed law ending the 32 million a year limit on passengers at Dublin Airport is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by the Oireachtas.
A key EU court ruling on the same issue is due over the summer, while US airlines have formally complained about the cap to that country’s department of transportation.
Fingal County Council, the airport’s planning authority, and noise regulators, are weighing an application from DAA to have the limit increased to 40 million.
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That is part of a €2 billion investment plan meant to prepare the State’s biggest airport to cope with growth into the next decade.
The European Commission last week ruled that An Coimisiún Pleanála breached EU regulations by imposing a night flight limit on the airport.
The Irish Aviation Authority is due to decide on passenger charges at Dublin this year, a process that generally sparks rows between the air travel regulator, DAA and airlines.
Meanwhile, Department of Transport assistant secretary Ethna Brogan told politicians on Wednesday that Mr O’Brien will have to consider an environmental-impact assessment before deciding to revoke or amend the 32 million-a-year passenger cap.
The proposed law giving him the power to do so will require this, Brogan told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport.
