Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Shannon Group: Chairperson Designate

Mr. Pádraig Ó Céidigh:

If I miss out on one of the Deputy's questions, I ask that he please come back to me. Reference was made to the environment, fifth freedom flights and transit. I really do not know a lot about that yet, but it is something I am keen to learn about. I have made a note of it. I cannot offer a comment until I have enough information on that, which I hope to get over the coming weeks as I read myself properly and fully into my new role as non-executive chairman.

This brings me to the Deputy's second question about the difference between the non-executive and executive chairman role. As I see it, a non-executive chair is very much a part-time role, the primary function of which is to chair anything between eight to ten board meetings a year, each lasting up to two to three hours and sometimes longer. The executive chair is a full-time role. That is the primary difference. The Deputy also asked about the difference between the chair, the chief executive officer and the management team, and the strategic direction. In my view, it is the board and not the chair. The chair facilitates the board. The board creates the vision and works on the strategy with the management team. Fundamentally, strategy is very simple. The Deputy spoke of strategic direction. With strategic direction, we start off knowing where we are at now. It is totally honest, with no sort of bias. It is just a case of asking where we are at now. Then we ask where it is we want to get to. Strategy is the bridge we build between where we are now and where we want to get to. It is the board's role, in my view, to work with the management team in creating a realistic and effective strategy in creating it. It is the management team's function to execute on the strategy. Management are primarily in execution mode. The board is not necessarily in execution mode. All of the board, including me, are non-executive. There are many other things going on in their lives, as is the situation with most, if not all, other State boards. That is the difference in the role of the board versus the role of the executive.

With regard to the third question on antigen testing and the alternative to PCR testing, for the life of me I absolutely cannot understand why Ireland has been dragging its heels in respect of testing that is taking place in the EU and elsewhere. I have watched parts of other committee meetings when people have been brought in here. I am subject to correction on this but it may have been Professor Ryan who said that they do not have a real issue with airlines. I remember raising this point also during a radio interview. The air filtration in an aeroplane is similar air filtration to an operating theatre. It is of that incredibly high standard.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.