Gary McGann resigns from DAA

Former Anglo director Gary McGann has resigned as chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority. Gary McGann was among five non-executive directors who resigned from Anglo on January 19 — just before the Government took steps to nationalise it.

In the 1980s Mr McGann worked in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General before joining LM Ericsson and then drinks firm Gilbeys of Ireland.

In April 1994, Mr McGann became chief executive of Aer Lingus.

In December 1994, McGann missed out on becoming a director of Aer Lingus when then Transport Minister Brian Cowen made 10 appointments to State boards during his last week in office.

Cowen appointed Michael McDonnell, an assistant secretary at the department, to the board of Aer Lingus. It had been expected Mr McGann would fill the vacancy.

In May 1998 Mr McGann left Aer Lingus to become chief financial officer at Jefferson Smurfit.

In 1999 Anglo Irish bought Smurfit Paribas for £30m.

On January 1, 2000, Mr McGann succeeded Patrick Wright as president and chief operations officer at Smurfit Group. Later that month he joined the board of Smurfit.

In early 2002 he became chief executive of Smurfit.

On January 21, 2002, Mr McGann was appointed to the board of Anglo Irish Bank, along with Tom Browne (then head of its wealth management division).

In 2007, Mr McGann was named as a shareholder in ISTC, the group that collapsed that year with debts of €871m. The group was started in 2005 by former Anglo executive Tiernan O’Mahony. Dennis O’Brien and Sean Quinn were also shareholders.

Mr McGann became the chairman of the DAA upon its creation in 2004.

Ryanair had called for his resignation this morning.