O’Leary: Coughlan doesn’t care about jobs

RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary has lambasted Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and the Government for being prepared to let 300 jobs slip through their fingers.

Talks between Mr O’Leary and Ms Coughlan about providing the jobs at Dublin airport broke up without a deal last night.

Mr O’Leary is willing to establish an aircraft maintenance unit that would employ 300 people provided he can locate the operation in a facility on the airport campus known as Hangar Six.

But the Government says its hands are tied because the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has already leased Hangar Six to Aer Lingus.

Mr O’Leary emerged from the talks at the Department of Enterprise, which lasted less than an hour, to accuse the Government of “not caring” about the jobs.

He said Ms Coughlan had made him “furious” by questioning Ryanair’s commitment to employing people in Ireland.

“She asked me has Ryanair any commitment to creating jobs in Ireland?

“I said: ‘Do you know how many jobs we actually (provide) in Ireland?’ She didn’t even know. Yet she’s willing to question whether we have a commitment to creating jobs in Ireland.

“I think I’ve created far more jobs in Ireland than this minister has.”

Ms Coughlan subsequently confirmed she had questioned Mr O’Leary’s sincerity about the jobs offer.

The Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister also confirmed she did not know how many people were employed by Ryanair.

Ms Coughlan said it was “unfortunate” that Mr O’Leary was being “most intransigent” about the issue, but said her door was still open if he wished to reconsider the alternatives being put forward by the Government and the DAA.

The DAA has offered to build a new hangar for Ryanair to its specifications.

But Mr O’Leary said there was no other suitable location on which to build a facility, and insisted Hangar Six was the only option.

He said there was a clause in the Aer Lingus lease that would allow the DAA to vacate Hangar Six and sell or lease it to Ryanair.

He acknowledged the clause required Aer Lingus to be given 12 months’ notice, but claimed it could vacate the facility in “12 minutes” if the State displayed willingness to do a deal.

Although stressing it was “never too late” for the Government to reconsider its stance, he said Ryanair would be pushing ahead with its negotiations with two other European airports to locate the maintenance unit in one of them.

Earlier in the Dáil, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny launched a blistering attack on Ms Coughlan, claiming she had an “abysmal record” as Enterprise Minister and had displayed “gross incompetence” in dealing with Ryanair. He called on Brian Cowen to take charge personally of last night’s meeting with Mr O’Leary.

But the Taoiseach ignored Mr Kenny’s suggestion, rejected the “personality assassination” on Ms Coughlan, and defended her record.