The former minister and leader of the Seanad, Ms Mary O'Rourke, has called on all individuals and parties involved in framing aviation policy to "re-declare" any funding they received from Ryanair or its chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary.
While making no specific allegation, she said yesterday that such individuals and parties should restate publicly "any donations they received from any interested parties that could benefit" from either the new legislation to break up Aer Rianta, or any decision to allow a second terminal at Dublin Airport. This would ensure transparency in what she called the current "melee" over aviation policy.
She was speaking in the wake of Tuesday's publication of the long-awaited Bill enabling the break-up of Aer Rianta into three separate companies. The break-up will not happen until at least next year, and depends on the production of business plans for the State's three airports.
Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrat spokespeople rejected any suggestion that there were other donations which should be disclosed that had not been revealed. They said that in accordance with the law, any donations over €5,078.95 were declared to the Standards in Public Office Commission and these were a matter of public record.
The PDs have received substantial funding from Ryanair in the past, but Fianna Fáil has never declared donations from the company or its boss, and the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said last year that he had never received any money from Ryanair or its chief executive.
However, Ms O'Rourke said yesterday that she had received a lengthy letter on the matter from an individual and that this had led to her call for re-disclosure. She declined to say who wrote the letter, nor would she give details of its contents. She told the Seanad on Tuesday that information she had received recently about a particular matter concerning Mr O'Leary "renders me quite speechless".
This matter "should be carefully examined because it involves substantial donations". Yesterday she said that this remark was a reference to a donation of €63,000 by Mr O'Leary to the Progressive Democrats in 2001, the year before a limit was placed on political donations. In 2002 a limit of €6,349 was placed on donations, and in that year Ryanair gave the PDs €5,451.
Ms O'Rourke accepted yesterday that these donations had been properly declared and were "fully above board".
She said she was not suggesting that there were more donations that remained undeclared.
In a curt response, a PD spokesman said that "donations of this type are subject to public scrutiny. Is Ms O'Rourke suggesting impropriety of some sort?"
The €63,000 donation was revealed by Ms Harney to her Cabinet colleagues during a discussion on aviation policy in early 2002, and it was also declared as required to the Standards Commission.
A Ryanair spokesman yesterday responded to Ms O'Rourke's remarks saying: "It is most surprising why the leader of the Seanad did not use the freedom afforded to its members to explain exactly what she meant, instead of remaining 'speechless'."
When Ms O'Rourke was minister for public enterprise from 1997 to 2002, Ryanair paid for a series of personalised, critical adverts when she refused to proceed on airports' policy in the way Mr O'Leary sought.