Hanlon to pay for Aer Rianta watch gifts
The former Aer Rianta chief who spent €45,000 euro of company money on gifts for his colleagues tonight announced he would pay for them himself.
Before he left office Noel Hanlon bought himself and four selected former members of the Aer Rianta board Cartier watches worth €9,000 each.
The acceptance of the valuable jewellery was condemned by the Taoiseach as “inappropriate”.
But Mr Hanlon said tonight: “In light of the controversy which these gifts have created, and to put an end to the publicity which has ensued, I have decided to return my watch and personally pay for the others.”
However, he refused to acknowledge he had acted wrongly and claimed the presentation of the gifts was “wholly appropriate” given the amount of time-consuming work his colleagues had undertaken in recent years.
The watches, all paid for with company funds, were given to former CIE chairman Dermot O’Leary and the current ESB chairman Tadhg O’Donoghue, who both left the Aer Rianta board in June 2003, Cork businesswoman Freda Hayes and ex-GPA executive Mr Liam Mead.
The state owned air authority was put out of business last Thursday and replaced by three regional boards, including the Dublin Airport Authority.
Earlier, Bertie Ahern told the Dail he was not allowed to accept gifts of over €600 euro himself.
“Nobody in this house could receive such a gift and they all work very hard so quite frankly I don’t think it’s appropriate,” he said.
