Climbdown as Tánaiste set to meet Ryanair chief

THE Government is willing to “bend over backwards” to secure 300 jobs from Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary after Tánaiste Mary Coughlan agreed to meet him today in a humiliating climbdown.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment earlier said she would “certainly not” pick up the phone to discuss Mr O’Leary’s proposal to base Ryanair’s aircraft maintenance hangar at Dublin Airport, with the creation of 300 jobs. But following a huge public outcry over her refusal, a discussion with Taoiseach Brian Cowen and two letters yesterday from Mr O’Leary, Ms Coughlan last night agreed to a face-to-face meeting.

“If he has jobs, we are hungry for them and we will bend over backwards to get them,” a spokesperson for the Tánaiste said last night. Ms Coughlan spoke to the Taoiseach by phone but a Government spokesperson would not confirm if they discussed the issue. Last night, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr O’Leary had been in touch with him to guarantee 300 maintenance jobs at Hangar Six at Dublin Airport.

Mr Kenny said: “If the Tánaiste is paralysed and irrelevant to this conversation perhaps the Taoiseach should sort it out.”

In a letter yesterday afternoon, Mr O’Leary said it is possible “even at this late stage” that 300 jobs could be created at Dublin Airport. He warned negotiations were advanced “with two other European airports/governments to invest substantial funds in developing hangar facilities and creating up to 300 maintenance jobs”. Mr O’Leary said these jobs could go to Dublin if the Government meets his demands and orders the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to sell or lease the former SR Technics Hangar to his airline.

The hangar has been leased to Air Lingus for a 25-year period but Mr O’Leary said it doesn’t need all the space because workers there “basically change the oil and pump the tires on the planes”.

“Hangar Six is empty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ryanair has 230 air craft at any given time... we have seven to 10 in heavy maintenance. We can put all that business into Dublin Airport and create jobs for 300 to 500 SR Technic engineers who have been on the dole since last year.”

The Government said there are “difficulties” with moving Aer Lingus out of Hangar Six and are offering to build another for Ryanair. At least 200 of the jobs have already gone to Prestwick Airport in Scotland because of what Mr O’Leary described as the Tánaiste’s “inaction and lethargy” on the issue since discussions began last August. Ms Coughlan repeatedly told Ryanair it had to engage with the DAA — which owns the land — but Mr O’Leary refuses to negotiate with the agency because of a row over increases in charges. “It’s extraordinary this Minister of Enterprise got on a plane to fly to Dallas when Dell were talking about cutting jobs in Limerick. She won’t even lift the phone to tell the DAA to sell us the hangar in return for us creating jobs.”

Ms Coughlan’s spokesperson denied she caved in: “At all stages we have been available to meet him. This was the first request... We can reach some resolution if there is goodwill on all sides and there is on ours.”

As public anger grew over the missed opportunity for job creation, Ms Coughlan potentially landed herself in another controversy by claiming in a BBC interview that some young people are emigrating to “enjoy themselves”.