Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Following my 6 March reply to the Deputy in relation to Question No 52, PQ 11025/24, the information requested by the Deputy for daa plc, The Shannon Airport Group and Dublin Port Company for the period 2019 to date is outlined in tabular form below.

The Deputy may wish to note that the incorrect year for The Shannon Airport Group was included in my initial reply and should have been noted as ‘under the 2020 scheme’, rather than 2023.

* Due to GDPR implications, my Department is unable to provide an individual breakdown of this information

In relation to whether any position categorised as redundant was refilled in any capacity, I can inform the Deputy that Dublin Port Company confirms, with the exception of one position which was refilled at a reduced cost, no positions categorised as redundant were refilled in any capacity.

In relation to the aviation sector, the context of the Covid 19 pandemic had an immediate and severe impact on global travel. It created an acute financial situation for our state airports, with a reduction in passengers in 2020 at Dublin and Cork Airports of 78%, and at Shannon Airport of 79%. It was in this context that daa and the Shannon Airport Group undertook significant organisational restructuring and streamlining of operations, seeking efficiencies and implementing cost saving measures. This included putting voluntary severance and voluntary early retirement schemes in place, to ensure company survival.

The lifting of the final COVID-19 travel restrictions in early 2022 resulted in passenger numbers rebounding considerably quicker than anticipated across the industry. Significantly higher than anticipated passenger numbers, particularly at Dublin Airport, meant that in some areas such as security, operations, retail and support functions, daa was required to resource up to meet this demand in 2022 and into 2023 to ensure requisite levels of connectivity were supported and maintained.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The only exit packages agreed by my Department under the terms of severance/redundancy schemes since 2019 were paid to Ministerial Personal Staff whose appointments were co-terminous with the relevant Minister/Minister of State. The calculation of severance payments to Ministerial Personal Staff were made in accordance with guidance issued by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. No exit or redundancy packages of €100,000 and above but less that €200,000 were granted by my Department in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024.

My Department currently has 19 agencies under its aegis, of which there are 12 commercial and 7 non-commercial agencies.

The Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016 outlines the disclosure requirements for inclusion within the agencies Annual Reports and Financial Statements. These disclosures include Termination/Severance Payments and Agreements which come to an aggregate value of €10,000 for each reporting period.

Information requested by the Deputy for the period 2019 to 2024 YTD is outlined in tabular form below.

In addition, four employees across three Transport agencies, CIE, CIL and RSA, availed of voluntary redundancy and severance schemes, however, the number of individuals involved means that a breakdown of this information cannot be provided as to do so would infringe on the right of the individuals under General Data Protection Regulations. The total cost of these 4 exits was €499,785.

* As outlined above due to GDPR implications, my Department is unable to provide an individual breakdown of this information