NOEL DEMPSEY’S ears must have been burning yesterday as Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary gave the Department of Transport a lashing at a press conference in relation to passenger charges at Dublin Airport.

O’Leary is similarly unimpressed by Dempsey’s latest appointment to the board of the Dublin Airport Authority?

No less than Gerry “Gerard” Collins, the former Fianna Fáil government minister and European MEP for Munster was recently elevated to the board of DAA in a move that slipped in under the radar.

Collins is 71 and retired from politics in 2004 after a career stretching back to 1969. His ministries included justice and foreign affairs; and the old post and telegraphs.

O’Leary was typically fortright. “He’s a 71-year-old retired politician and former teacher,” he said. “Only the Department of Transport could come up with a dud like that. This guy will add nothing.”

A spokesman for the Minister said Collins was “eminently suitable” for the role. He cited his former position as co-ordinator of the European Parliament’s transport committee from 1999 to 2004 and his “experience” as a former minister and MEP.

More to the point, Limerick-born Collins will bang the drum for the west of Ireland now that Dempsey has decided not to separate Shannon from the DAA.

Dempsey is also set to appoint Brian O’Connell, who has Fianna Fáil connections, as chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority. This, in turn, will give O’Connell a seat on the DAA’s board.

“I wish him luck, there’ll be tumbleweed blowing through Shannon next year,” O’Leary said.