The Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has announced he will not be proceeding with the appointment of Aaron Forde as chair of the Shannon Group.
Yesterday, Minister Ryan had announced the appointment of the former Aurivo CEO as the new chairperson of the Shannon Group, but confirmed later last night that he won't be proceeding with the appointment.
In a statement, Minister Ryan said that in a phone conversation, he indicated that Mr Forde's use of social media was below the standard expected of a chairperson of a State board.
The statement continues that "this is an important time for Shannon Group which has to chart a way through the crisis caused by the pandemic and plan for recovery. The Department of Transport will work to appoint a chair as quickly as possible.”
In a letter of resignation to Minister Ryan yesterday evening, Mr Forde apologised unreservedly for remarks he made on Twitter which have become the subject of focus.
He said the language used in a particular tweet was wrong, insensitive and needless, for which he's sorry. He added that he wished to apologise in particular to people from the Traveller community.
The Co Cavan native was Chief Executive of Aurivo for 16 years until he left the company at the end of 2019.
Aaron Forde has previous board experience with Ornua, the Sligo Economic Forum, IBEC and Midwest Radio, and is also a non-executive director with a number of private companies.
