EU forces O’Leary to eat humble pie and saves our tourism season

IF Michael O’Leary of Ryanair could make money selling toilet paper on his planes, he would do it, and he has been quite candid about it.

Over the years Ryanair was largely responsible for making air travel affordable for just about everybody. He has been one of the country’s most successful businessmen. He sometimes comes across, however, as one who would never give a sucker a break, so too many people were probably not distressed at what happened to him this week.

At the height of the controversy over John O’Donoghue’s expenses last October, somebody suggested on Marian Finucane’s radio programme that O’Donoghue would never travel with Ryanair. He actually tried at least once, but was not allowed on the plane in Cork because he did not have photo identification. Ms Finucane remarked that it so happened she was denied access to a flight in Cork the same day for the same reason.