Names: Ulick and Desmond McEvaddy.
Ages: 46 and 45 respectively.
Where do they live: Desmond lives on Kings' Road, Chelsea, London and Ulick lives in Auburn House, Malahide. However, they also spend a lot of their time in Texas and in Washington D.C.
Why are they in the news: The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, has criticised the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, for staying in a French villa as a guest of the McEvaddy's company, Omega Air. He said there could be a perceived conflict of interest, as the brothers would be seeking Government support for a change to EU regulations on noise from jet aircrafts, and would also be lobbying for permission to build a privately-owned terminal at Dublin Airport.
What do they do?: They are owners of Omega Air, a company with offices in Dublin Airport but legally controlled and managed from Sark, in the Channel Islands. Omega is involved in the sale and leasing of old Boeing 707s, some of them from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a number of other aviation activities. The brothers are also involved in FM 104 and the Malahide Marina development, as well as a controversial proposal in Wales concerning the possible storage of nuclear waste.
What do they think of the current controversy?: The brothers are understood to be very unhappy at the recent coverage. They are of the view that there is no possibility of a conflict of interest as both the aircraft noise issue and the airport terminal issue are matters of EU law which will be settled in the European courts and not at local political level.
