Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 March 2024
167. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport further to Parliamentary Question No. 52 of 6 March 2024, for a breakdown of the table provided to indicate the number of payments and amounts that were made in respect of exit, severance and redundancy; and whether any position categorised as redundant was refilled in any capacity. [12327/24]
View answerFollowing 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.
|
AGENCY |
YEAR |
TYPE |
NUMBER |
AMOUNT |
|
daa |
2019, 2020* |
Voluntary Early Retirements |
97 |
€31.3m |
|
daa |
2019, 2020* |
Voluntary Severance Exits |
2 |
€0.4m |
|
daa |
2021 |
Voluntary Early Retirements |
51 |
€19.4m |
|
daa |
2021 |
Voluntary Severance Exits |
3 |
€0.7m |
|
daa |
2022 |
Voluntary Early Retirements |
13 |
€4.7m |
|
The Shannon Airport Group |
Under the 2020 scheme |
Voluntary Severance Scheme |
2 |
€0.498m |
|
Dublin Port Company |
2019, 2020* |
Voluntary Severance Program |
6 |
€1,504m |
|
Dublin Port Company |
2023 |
In 2023 two individuals exited under individual exit packages of which one was greater than €200k |
1 |
>€200k |
* 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.
