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The Viability of Dick Fearn During a Time of Economic Hardship?

  • 30-04-2010 11:18am
    #1
    FlameoftheWest
    Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭


    from another thread:
    JHMEG wrote: »
    Interesting question: just why is Dick Fearn here. Maybe deserving of it's own thread.

    His salary is €256,000. Add in his pension and bonus and his total package is worth €400,000.

    Personally I don't think he's doing a great job and I'd say he's here for the money mainly.


Comments

  • #2
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    as has been said many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many times on here, the whole lot of them need to go. Never mind just him.


  • #3
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Even more shocking is Declan Collier's package, worth €638,000 a year. The mind boggles.

    We are told these people could command many multiple times their salaries in the private sector. If they can, then why don't they?


  • #4
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    I think he has brought a lot of change for the better for the railway. Before we were stuck with an outdated system using loco hauled trains a few times a day on certain routes, with alot of handling required in terms of manpower for shunting. Now we have more frequent services on many routes, railcars allowing faster turnround times, with an emphasis on effiency. Thats not to say there are areas which have not prospered; Rosslare-Waterford for instance. But generally I think in years to come people will look back at his reign as the time when the majority of IÉ services flourished and were dragged into 21st century levels.


  • #5
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    IE were looking to buy intercity railcars since the late 1980s. Every so called modern railway has gone that direction and it didn't take Dick Fearns arrival here to know it was the way forward. Fearn is ordinary and nobody will remember his IE days except enthusiasts who confuse bucket loads of European and state money with the apparent skills and great management of Dick Fearn. Luckily for him retirement approaches just as the network requires real leadership. Very easy to sit in your ivory tower when the money is flowing. Ireland was a soft touch for Fearn who is in the twilight of his career anyway. Nothing special about him. Money delivered the improvements we got. All fur coat and no knickers if you ask me.


  • #6
    FlameoftheWest
    Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭FlameoftheWest


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    Luckily for him retirement approaches just as the network requires real leadership.

    Spot on. The next IE boss will have to do some work rather than indulging his freinds frm the mainland while spending other people's money.


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  • #7
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    IE were looking to buy intercity railcars since the late 1980s. Every so called modern railway has gone that direction and it didn't take Dick Fearns arrival here to know it was the way forward.

    Yeah but it took Fearn to see the project through.
    DWCommuter wrote: »
    Fearn is ordinary and nobody will remember his IE days except enthusiasts who confuse bucket loads of European and state money with the apparent skills and great management of Dick Fearn.

    You clearly don't know much about rail enthusiasts - quite a lot of them would resent him for getting rid of their beloved loco hauled trains... Its more the consumer benifited in this regard.


  • #8
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    FlameoftheWest wrote: »
    Spot on. The next IE boss will have to do some work rather than indulging his freinds frm the mainland while spending other people's money.

    How so his he 'indluging his freinds frm the mainland'? Oh no, a charity railtour every five years, yeah he's really throwing the coppers around with that one. Do you want the rail system we had ten years ago before he came over here?


  • #9
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    Transportuser09 wrote: »
    How so his he 'indluging his freinds frm the mainland'? Oh no, a charity railtour every five years, yeah he's really throwing the coppers around with that one. Do you want the rail system we had ten years ago before he came over here?

    The changes were going to happen anyway regardless of whether Fearn was in the job or not.


  • #10
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    The changes were going to happen anyway regardless of whether Fearn was in the job or not.

    Right, but he has still done his job by seeing these changes through. Therefore whats the problem?


  • #11
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    Transportuser09 wrote: »
    Right, but he has still done his job by seeing these changes through. Therefore whats the problem?

    He didn't do anything out of the ordinary and wasn't the Messiah some thought he was going to be.


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  • #12
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    He didn't do anything out of the ordinary and wasn't the Messiah some thought he was going to be.

    He didn't do anything particularly wrong either...


  • #13
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Considering we have a Minister for Transport, a Chairman of CIE, and a tiny rail network, I find it hard to believe IE needs a CEO at all.

    Was it not Seamus Brennan (as first Minister of Transport) that started the ball rolling on improvements in rail?


  • #14
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    The thread title should be altered to The Viability of Dick Fearn, John Lynch, CIE and Noel Dempsey at any time?


  • #15
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Well Dick Fearn is the obvious spare part... The others aren't so obvious. ;)


  • #16
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    JHMEG wrote: »
    Well Dick Fearn is the obvious spare part... The others aren't so obvious. ;)

    Is that because he has some knowledge of railways?


  • #17
    eejoynt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 264 ✭✭eejoynt


    JHMEG wrote: »
    Considering we have a Minister for Transport, a Chairman of CIE, and a tiny rail network, I find it hard to believe IE needs a CEO at all.

    Was it not Seamus Brennan (as first Minister of Transport) that started the ball rolling on improvements in rail?

    I think it was Mary o Rourke after the Knockroghery derailment in 1998
    in the early eighties - Jim Mitchell ( FG) decided that there would be no more major capital investment in the railway.

    re the tone of some posts on this thread I presume the mods are keeping an eye on recent developments on p.ie regarding defamation?


  • #18
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    eejoynt wrote: »
    I think it was Mary o Rourke after the Knockroghery derailment in 1998
    in the early eighties - Jim Mitchell ( FG) decided that there would be no more major capital investment in the railway.

    re the tone of some posts on this thread I presume the mods are keeping an eye on recent developments on p.ie regarding defamation?

    What defamation?


  • #19
    A Dub in Glasgo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,575 ✭✭✭✭A Dub in Glasgo


    It is obvious that some people here do not rate Fearn, I do not know what role he played or did not play but can someone give a summary of why he should be villified? I know he came through rail privitisation in Britain (as did I .... just)


  • #20
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »
    It is obvious that some people here do not rate Fearn, I do not know what role he played or did not play but can someone give a summary of why he should be villified? I know he came through rail privitisation in Britain (as did I .... just)

    How about being the man who now presides over a rail company that can't even produce a public national rail timetable? I'm in a rare good mood today or I would spend more time on a reply but Guinness and the Heineken Cup are infinitely more interesting than Ireland's doomed railway system.


  • #21
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    His remuneration package alone comprises a whopping 20% of the running cost of a train line which he has now timetabled to death.


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  • #22
    dowlingm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    No matter who the CEO is, he or she will want paying and in an enterprise of IE's scale that WILL be a low-mid six figure number. Let's not be ridiculous. Collier's salary looks obscene though.


  • #23
    FlameoftheWest
    Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭FlameoftheWest


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    What defamation?

    Well judging by the CIE/IE Rentboys which have (unsuccessfully) taken over this board in recent weeks I would suggest that to these fanatics saying anything negative against IE Management is in their minds defamation, if not heresy.


  • #24
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    FlameoftheWest wrote: »
    Well judging by the CIE/IE Rentboys which have (unsuccessfully) taken over this board in recent weeks I would suggest that to these fanatics saying anything negative against IE Management is in their minds defamation, if not heresy.

    Theres fanatics on this board alright. They'd be more of the anti-CIÉ/IÉ kind though. There are some people here who see CIÉ has its faults, but don't go along with the notion that they are overall an extremely bad company. The hardcore anti-CIÉ-ists can't comphrend a world where people view a company as having both good and bad points, so they brand any one of this view as a 'fanatic', quite ill thoughtout on their part really.


  • #25
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    dowlingm wrote: »
    No matter who the CEO is, he or she will want paying and in an enterprise of IE's scale that WILL be a low-mid six figure number. Let's not be ridiculous. Collier's salary looks obscene though.

    Let's also not forget this is Ireland. We have nothing and we make nothing. We're dependent on FDI. Keeping semi-state/state fossils on life support and paying what are essentially exorbitant salaries (none of which are performance related) sends out the wrong message... Is says "BANANA" loud and clear.


  • #26
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    Transportuser09 wrote: »
    Theres fanatics on this board alright. They'd be more of the anti-CIÉ/IÉ kind though. There are some people here who see CIÉ has its faults, but don't go along with the notion that they are overall an extremely bad company. The hardcore anti-CIÉ-ists can't comphrend a world where people view a company as having both good and bad points, so they brand any one of this view as a 'fanatic', quite ill thoughtout on their part really.

    No not really. Some of us have actually read the litany of reports on the company and its not good anywhere. I'd recommend a little reflection over the External Review Groups - IE- The way Forward from 2001. Hardly any of its recommendations in relation to management structure, unions etc have been implemented. Pour yourself a brandy while reading it, because you'll need it.


  • #27
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    Would some CIE groupie please explain some good points about CIE/IE - apart from running charity tours for foreign charities, not to mention all the pre-tour trial runs?


  • #28
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    Judgement Day wrote: »
    Would some CIE groupie please explain some good points about CIE/IE - apart from running charity tours for foreign charities, not to mention all the pre-tour trial runs?

    I'd have to label the DART a good point in fairness. Reliable, fast (compared to buses), 9x% on time (:D). stock that earns a living (apart from 8200).

    Ok it could be better, more lines and so forth but all thing considered it fairly good by an IE standard


  • #29
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    With a few exceptions, the service on many routes is quite good compared to that of a few years ago in terms of frequency; Sligo, Cork, etc... Fearn's reign has also seen the introduction of off-peak services to places like Waterford. Fleet wise IÉ's is very good too, especially since they finally saw fit to do away with commuter stock on most Sligo and Rosslare services.

    Considering they get no subsidy for it they do okay with freight flows as well.


  • #30
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    Transportuser09 wrote: »
    With a few exceptions, the service on many routes is quite good compared to that of a few years ago in terms of frequency; Sligo, Cork, etc... Fearn's reign has also seen the introduction of off-peak services to places like Waterford. Fleet wise IÉ's is very good too, especially since they finally saw fit to do away with commuter stock on most Sligo and Rosslare services.

    Considering they get no subsidy for it they do okay with freight flows as well.

    In fairness, "Fearns reign" is a world apart from "Fearn did". All of what you mention was proposed long before Fearn arrived. He just happened to be here when the money was provided to fund it.


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  • #31
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    In fairness, "Fearns reign" is a world apart from "Fearn did". All of what you mention was proposed long before Fearn arrived. He just happened to be here when the money was provided to fund it.

    He still saw it through though. He did his job. Now, there some areas in which he could be more proactive in developing, such as the cross country routes.


  • #32
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    Transportuser09 wrote: »
    He still saw it through though. He did his job. Now, there some areas in which he could be more proactive in developing, such as the cross country routes.

    Well then why was he specifically headhunted from the UK?


  • #33
    Transportuser09
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 581 ✭✭✭Transportuser09


    DWCommuter wrote: »
    Well then why was he specifically headhunted from the UK?

    IÉ needed a new CEO.


  • #34
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    Transportuser09 wrote: »
    IÉ needed a new CEO.

    No they didn't. Fearn was brought in as a chief operating officer to serve under Joe Meagher as per the recommendations of the "way forward report". Then suddenly Meagher is at Dublin Bus and Fearn is CEO and the post of chief operating officer is gone.


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