Ahern dithered as Tiger died: O'Leary
Sunday November 29 2009
RYANAIR boss Michael O'Leary has rubbished former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as a "feckless ditherer" who presided over the Celtic Tiger economy -- the benefits of which have all been "pissed away" -- and he called for the Seanad to be shut down and all senators sacked.
Mr O'Leary said he did not need a "bauble" such as a seat in the Senate, and declared: "My dog has more influence then a senator. I would shut it down and sack them all."
The colourful head of Ryanair hit out at his favourite betes noires in a wide-ranging interview on RTE's Marian Finucane Show. Topics included the Government's airport tax, Aer Lingus, "idiot politicians", and the Dublin Airport Authority. Mr O'Leary also claimed Ryanair was one of the "great Irish success stories". But he also revealed a more cuddly side, saying his favourite way of relaxing was to head for the "Costa del Mullingar" where he has a farm to play with his children and where he walks the fields among his cattle and horses.
Mr O'Leary said he didn't go to the recent three-day think-in of businessmen with Irish roots from around the world at Farmleigh, saying it could have been accomplished in four hours with 20 people around a table. He criticised senior civil servants, saying they were useless and that their indolence and incompetence were legendary. He said any money the Government had made from the Celtic Tiger had been "pissed away", that no money had been put aside, and that we had a shambolic and over-staffed health service.
"We deserve what we get," he said, referring to the election success of Bertie Ahern, who "would stick a knife in me if he could".
On a familiar theme, he again attacked the Government's airport tax and the building of the new terminal at Dublin Airport, which Ryanair had offered to build at no cost to the taxpayer for €200m -- but the final bill was now going to be €1.3bn, he claimed.
"We made a complete balls of it and now we are asking tourists to pay for it," he said.
He said the DAA should pay for it as they had plenty of assets, while Cork and Shannon airports should also be sold off. "The only way out of this mess is to get more tourists in instead of this crazy tourist tax," he said.
He also said it was highly unlikely that Ryanair would make another bid for Aer Lingus. "We'll let them mismanage Aer Lingus for the next two years and they will then come to ask us to rescue it," he said. He called for the scrapping of 1,000 government "quangos" -- such as the Equality Authority, which he said was "a complete waste of time", and the National Consumer Agency, which Mr O'Leary described as "complete bloody rubbish" -- to save €8bn.
He also proposed a 20pc cut in social welfare payments, a 20pc cut in staffing levels in the public service, and a 40-hour week and 20 days' holiday a year for public sector workers. Mr O'Leary said he had no interest in personal publicity, had no personal email address, and had taken his family on holidays to the Algarve by Ryanair.
Saying the airline had "frightened the crap" out of other European airlines, he said the one country where they did not get support was Ireland.
He said any flaws in the airline were due to his "deformed personality", but he expected to be gone from Ryanair in two or three years, and would like to spend more time with his children.
- Don Lavery
Sunday Independent
