Government's Shannon Steering Committee Announced
Tom O'Malley and John Murphy will jointly chair the Steering Committee, which will bring forward proposals for the implementation of the decision to restructure the states airports, Shannon Development and tourism and enterprise support function in the mid-west region. Tom O'Malley is the Secretary General at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, while John Murphy is the Secretary General at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Employment. The rest of the board is made up of officials from both departments and the Departments of Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, Environment, Community and Local Government. The first meeting of the steering group has taken place at which they have planned the future work of the programme.
The steering group will provide proposals for the separation of Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), review and assess the DAAs plan after separation to insure it is ready, proposals for the integration of specific functions of the Shannon Development into Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, the integration of Tourism functions from Shannon Development to Fáilte Ireland, the options open for the new entity made up of Shannon Development and Shannon Airport, the best organizational structure that will benefit the Shannon Region, collaboration between the new entity and Enterprise Ireland and IDA for the use of properties for business and to look into the development of an International Aviation Centred of excellence at Shannon Airport.
The steering group will be responsible for 2 task forces. Aviation Business Development Task Force chaired by Rose Hynes (a former member of senior management at Guiness Peat Aviation (GPA) and the board of Aer Lingus Teo and Shannon Airport Authority, she is currently chairperson at Bord Gais Éireann). Change Management Task Force will be chaired by John Fitzgerald (former Dublin City Manager and current chair of the National Transport Authority).
The Ministers concluded: ‘We are delighted that so many high calibre people, experts in many different fields, are prepared to serve on the Steering Group and the two Task Forces along with the agencies. We are grateful to them for giving of their time and effort to bring forward proposals for the implementation of the Government decision in relation to Shannon’.