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FLANKED BY TWO young staff members holding cardboard cutouts of ministers Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary pulled faces and posed for photos while holding a picture of Dublin Airport with a sign saying “Sorry, we’re closed”.
O’Leary was his typical loud and boisterous self at a press conference in Dublin today, as he heaped criticism on Transport Minister Ryan and Tourism Minister Martin, who he said are failing to deliver growth in Ireland’s aviation industry.
The main point of the press conference was to call for the cap on passenger numbers at Dublin Airport to be abolished. He described the cap as “artificial” and said it was causing Dublin to “lose out” to other European airports.
“Other airports in Europe are laughing at Dublin,” he said in reference to the traffic cap.
O’Leary called for emergency legislation that would abolish the cap, saying that “our two Green Party ministers” for tourism and transport “should go” if they can’t grow the aviation industry, accusing them of “faffing about”.
O’Leary said that Ryanair had been forced to abandon plans to base four planes at Dublin Airport and open 12 new routes because of the cap on traffic, which is set at 32 million passengers per year. He also pointed to the airport’s new runway, which he said was being underused due to the cap.
“Grow or go” was the message O’Leary had for the ministers, who he said had “failed to deliver” for Dublin Airport over the last four years.
Pointing to the the key goals of the Government’s National Aviation Policy, O’Leary said that Minister Ryan was failing to deliver on all of them.
Those goals, according to the Government’s plan, are the following:
O’Leary said he had been contacted by the transport minister and invited to meet him to discuss his issues with government policy. That meeting could take place next Thursday of Friday, he said.
O’Leary also riffed on some of his pet peeves, like airport noise complaints and environmental activists, as well as commenting on issues facing the airline industry, including recent Boeing and Airbus aircraft faults and the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine.
He said relations between Boeing and Ryanair are improving but criticised the “managerial” communication style of company executives, and that Ryanair was expecting to receive around 40 aircraft from Boeing in the near future, about 10 fewer than expected.
Delivery of new Boeing 737 Max planes has been delayed due to technical faults.
O’Leary also said that the resulting shortfall in aircraft supply would affect Ryanair’s competitors more severely.
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cost of.living goes up but wages don’t,how longer can this continue
Some wages are increasing. Public service increments are still payed even though we are a bankrupt state.
Glad that my salary rose by 4% in the same period then.
ah itl be grand sure that Kenny lad is sound out
But the ultimate “cost” in the long run will be a radical reduction in the quality of lives of those struggling and swamped with bills. The real cost will be huge stress and worry about how to make ends meet.
Did those troika bastards not say the exact opposite to this headline during the week?
wait thats all lies those honest, lovable,hardworking,underpaid nice men from the troika reckons the cost of living in ireland is down a lot and we all should have our wages and welfare cut…….I am shocked that they may have lied to us on this!
It’s because our welfare and minimum wage are too high that inflation is up. It’s insane. If you want cost of living to fall they have to come down. Not popular, but an unfortunate truth.
The sum of life in Ireland. Higher taxes + Lower Wages + Government Levies + Universal Social Charge + Negative Equity + Bank Bailouts + Mortgage Interest + Expensive Petrol + Energy Prices + Cost of Living = 0 left to spend in the local economy such as food, clothing and general day to day / recreational expenses.
So much for the much vaunted low cost economy.
Ah sur it doesn’t matter it’s only the citizens of iredland who have to suffer, because politicians get their petrol paid for by us anyway through their “expenses”. What a flamin joke. The fools in government now will have us back in the times of the famine by 2016 because all we,ll be living off of is bread nd butter cos that’s all we,ll be able to afford, while the “leaders” get fed with golden spoons.
There,s a lot more Irish citizens in Ireland than there is in the dail. These muppets need to go!!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/supporting-the-irish-nation-step-down-from-government
So much for the deflation death spiral that austerity was supposed to bring.
ahh dont cut me welfare
have your say