TÁNAISTE MARY Coughlan has offered to meet Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary today to discuss the creation of 300 jobs at Dublin airport.
After a day of crossed messages yesterday, Ms Coughlan and Mr O’Leary last night expressed their willingness to meet. “We have been in touch with Mr O’Leary’s office with a view to a meeting tomorrow to try and resolve any issues that stand in the way of creating those jobs,” a spokesman for the Tánaiste said last night.
“Our key focus is to secure the 300 jobs Mr O’Leary is promising in Dublin. If he is serious we will be doing everything in our power to facilitate them.”
He insisted Ms Coughlan’s door had always been open to the Ryanair boss, but said the only important issue was to sort out the obstacles to creating the jobs.
“If it means building a hangar or finding an existing hangar we will do it. There are obstacles in the way of some options but we will try and surmount them.”
Earlier in the day Mr O’Leary offered to meet the Tánaiste but the offer was made after she had responded to a letter from Ryanair. In her letter Ms Coughlan defended her handling of the airline’s offer to create 500 jobs on the former SR Technics site.
She expressed her disappointment at learning of Ryanair’s decision to locate its new investment in Prestwick, Scotland, despite the best efforts of the Department of Enterprise, through IDA Ireland, to secure the investment for Dublin.
“You will recall that there were two obstacles to progressing this matter. Firstly, your reluctance to talk to the DAA which owns Hangar 6 and secondly the fact that Hangar 6 was being occupied by another party. A number of options for developing facilities at Dublin airport were put to you. Those options included the possibility of new hangar facilities being constructed at Dublin which seems also to be the basis on which the new facility at Prestwick is being accommodated.
“I can assure you that the Government is most anxious to secure further investment from Ryanair at Dublin or indeed at another Irish airport. The IDA, in the first instance, are available immediately, as are the DAA, to continue discussions with Ryanair.
“The IDA are satisfied to continue to act as broker and point of contact for Ryanair,” the Tánaiste’s letter noted.
Mr O’Leary responded by repeating his offer to meet today. “All that is necessary is for you as Minister for Enterprise and Employment to direct the Government-owned DAA monopoly to sell Hangar 6 to Ryanair for the same arms length price they paid to SRT for it last year.” He added that Ryanair was at an advanced stage of negotiations with two other European airports as a location for the development.
“Instead of wasting time fobbing us off on the IDA or the DAA why don’t you intervene in this personally and give us a commitment that the Government will do what is necessary to win these jobs and this investment for Ireland,” concluded Mr O’Leary.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore told RTÉ the controversy should not have come as a surprise to Ms Coughlan.
