It follows weeks of uncertainty regarding his future in the job.
While it had been unclear if Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers would agree to the deal struck by the DAA board for Mr Jacobs following a mediation process, they are now prepared to agree to the terms of his exit, it’s understood.
Mr Jacobs has been at loggerheads with the DAA board, which is headed by Basil Geoghegan, following the filing of two complaints made via protected disclosures against him.
The board immediately commenced an external review when those complaints were made, undertaken by senior counsel Mark Connaughton, who found that the complaints were unfounded. The whole process took about eight months but concluded the complaints lacked any merit, resulting in their being “comprehensively dismissed”.
No additional complaints have been made against Mr Jacobs.
While it had been anticipated that the two ministers would not sign off on the package for Mr Jacobs for a few more weeks, it’s believed they will meet next week with a view to doing so. Last month, Mr O’Brien described Mr Jacobs as a “very good” CEO.
It’s thought that while Mr Jacobs – who has only been in the job for almost three years of his seven-year term – would have been keen to stay in the role, he’ll now be counting down the weeks to his departure.
The next DAA board meeting is due to be held next month. At the last meeting, which was held in Cork in September, Mr Jacobs is understood to have focused on operational matters and his likely departure was not discussed.
If Mr Jacobs was to stay, it would likely have required the ministers to weigh in fully behind him by making their support for him and his strategy clear to the board.
The nature of his impending departure is certain to be a red flag for any potential future CEO the DAA tries to lure from the private sector.
Mr Jacobs had implemented a strategy that included tacking Fingal County Council and the Government in relation to the annual passenger cap at Dublin Airport, and also undertaking a number of operational changes.
The government is poised to introduce legislation that will result in the cap being removed, but that process will take some time. The DAA and the council have had a fractious relationship as Mr Jacobs pushed to get the cap raised, and also tried to push through planning applications for major capital expenditure projects at Dublin Airport.
Meanwhile, the cap is in limbo due to challenges that have been taken in the High Court by airlines including Ryanair, Aer Lingus and US carriers, resulting in certain matters being referred to the European Court of Justice.
It’s believed that Mr Jacobs also sought to renegotiate certain contracts the DAA had with airlines and other parties; moved to reassign some staff and reassess staffing capabilities; restructure some management roles and deal with other matters such as hybrid working models in an effort to improve operational efficiency.
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