RYANAIR’S HEAD of communications Stephen McNamara has told the High Court he will not apologise to former Miss World Rosanna Davison over a press release which, she claims, branded her a racist.
Asked yesterday by Ms Davison’s counsel, Jim O’Callaghan SC, if he was prepared to apologise having heard evidence in the case, Mr McNamara said: “No”.
He wrote the release and posted it on the airline website on the basis of comments made by Ms Davison at a time when Ryanair was trying to raise money for charity with a calendar featuring members of its staff, he said.
He had not made comments about Ms Davison herself but rather about comments she made in relation to the calendar, Mr McNamara said. “That is an important difference, I don’t know Ms Davison.”
Mr McNamara was being cross-examined in the continuing action by Ms Davison in which she alleges she was defamed in the release posted by Ryanair on November 11th, 2008. Ms Davison (27), Cornelscourt, Dublin, claims the release wrongly meant she was racist, xenophobic and jealous.
Ryanair denies defamation and denies the release bore the alleged meanings. It also pleads it was fair comment in response to a matter of public interest.
Evidence concluded yesterday and the jury will hear closing speeches from both sides today after which it will be charged by Mr Justice Éamon de Valera.
The court has heard the release was posted following remarks by Ms Davison, published in the Irish Independent, relating to the absence of any Irish female cabin crew from a Ryanair charity calendar for 2009.
Ms Davison said her remarks were a response to questions from an Irish Independent journalist the same day about the absence of Irish female cabin crew from the calendar.
She said she was correctly quoted the next day as saying: “If I was [organising] it, I would have made sure that Irish women were involved because it’s an Irish charity and Irish fundraising. Any person from any part of Europe would say that Irish women are gorgeous.”
The following day, Ryanair’s release stated “comments made by Irish glamour model Rosanna Davison in relation to the absence of Irish cabin crew from Ryanair’s 2009 charity calendar . . . bordered on racism and demonstrated an elitist attitude against Ryanair’s international cabin crew”.
It also said: “Ryanair confirmed all cabin crew were invited to apply for the calendar and that while only a small number of Irish staff applied, one Irish girl was invited to participate but was unavailable to do so.”
Mr McNamara disagreed with Mr O’Callaghan that Ryanair did not take criticism well. He referred to criticism in the media and elsewhere last year when Ryanair announced it would not pay compensation as a result of flight cancellations due to the volcanic ash cloud. In light of what was said about the airline’s stance, Ryanair backed down and it cost it €50 million, which showed the airline could take criticism, he said.
Daniel de Carvalho, Ryanair’s European communications manager, said he received a phone call about the release from Ms Davison’s father, singer Chris de Burgh, in which de Burgh said he would sue Ryanair and Mr McNamara personally unless they got an apology by the following Monday. De Burgh had said he had himself sued 16 times in other cases and won, Mr de Carvalho said.
Two Ryanair cabin crew members who have featured in its charity calendar also gave evidence. Ingrid Pilkobu from Slovakia told Frank Beattie, for Ryanair, she was a member of Ryanair cabin crew based in Dublin when she saw a poster in the crew room looking for people to take part in the calendar.
She was attracted to the project because it was for charity and she had not done any other modelling before. There was no question of pressure on her into doing it. The shoot took place over four days in Reus, Barcelona, and she only found out her picture had been used when the calendar came out.
Asked for her view of Ms Davison’s comments, she said if Ryanair had only been looking for Irish cabin crew to take part in the calendar, she would “have felt offended”. “I don’t think the calendar was about nationality.”
Stanka Haluskobu from Latvia. who is based at Frankfurt, said she got involved in the calendar because it was an opportunity to help with a charitable cause. There was no question of pressure, she added.