MICHAEL O’LEARY began with what passes for a pleasantry from the Ryanair chief executive – by apologising to RTÉ for not letting its crew film the airline’s agm. There was a simple explanation.
“The cameras would only encourage the lunatics to come, and we’ve enough lunatics in here already,” he noted. While everyone wondered if he meant them, Mr O’Leary zipped onto the theme of this year’s meeting.
“Can Irish tourism be rescued?” was the question on the projector screen, but what he really meant was “can Ryanair rescue Irish tourism”, for the emphatic response was “Yes we can”.
Mr O’Leary claims he can bring in six million extra tourists to Ireland every year and create 6,000 jobs within five years if the Government scraps its €10 passenger tax.
When “even green fees” are “readjusting”, then Irish tourism can be rescued – “but only if the Government gets the message”, said Mr O’Leary. He duly flashed up statistics showing that because the UK and Ireland “pioneered revolutionary concepts such as welcoming tourists by taxing them” that passenger numbers into those countries are in decline.
The Dublin Airport Authority also came in for its usual assault. “The less they run, the more we minimise their ability to make a total dog’s balls of it,” he said.
The “white elephant” of Dublin’s Terminal 2 won’t be mothballed – his repeated recommendation – because it would embarrass the Government, despite the fact that it is “difficult to politically embarrass the current Government”.
Former minister for finance Charlie McCreevy and now a Ryanair director with 99.9 per cent shareholder approval, laughed as Mr O’Leary embarked on this customary obliteration.
“I don’t think even someone as influential as Charlie McCreevy could get the Government to listen to me. I think it would need God almighty,” Mr O’Leary said.
The small cohort of shareholders gathered at a Dublin airport hotel to thank him for declaring Ryanair’s first dividend did not leave in want of O’Learyisms. “There’s no such thing as an ordinary shareholder. You’re all special,” he told one holder of ordinary shares.
Of Ryanair’s desire to “get rid of two out of three toilets” on shorter flights to maximise seat revenues, he declared the airline would “happily give away the proceeds to some incontinence charity”.
A pilot’s suggestion that a member of its cabin crew could be trained up to act as chief executive – a response to Mr O’Leary’s desire for co-pilots to take up a spot of trolley duty – would “at least ensure you have a more attractive chief executive than the current incumbent”.
On his retirement, he surmised: “One of the things I’ve discovered from having young children is that it provides a wonderful incentive to spend more time at work.”
He has now commended his tourism-boosting, job creation offer to the Government. But has it ever acknowledged Ryanair’s role in shuttling cash-shedding tourists into Ireland, one attendee asked.
“Yes, I’m sure they have acknowledged it. I just don’t remember when or where.”
Tomorrow: Michael O’Leary interview, Business This Week
