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 hundreds of thousands of unemployed people — 434,700 last week — watching the bun fight between the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and Ryanair are entitled to be angry.

YOUR report headlined ‘Overseas visitors to mid-west down by 27%’ (February 12) highlighted the collapse in tourism there last year.

DEPUTY Michael Noonan is completely wrong to argue that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is hostile to the fortunes of Shannon airport (‘Noonan lets fly at Tánaiste over mid-west inaction,’ Irish Examiner, February 2).

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan and the Dublin Airport Authority have vigorously defended their involvement in Ryanair’s failed bid to create 500 engineering and support jobs at the former SR Technics site at Dublin Airport.

A HIGH Court judge has given Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary until tomorrow to explain why the court was not informed last month of a letter to Mr O’Leary from the Minister for Transport stating the minister would set up a panel to hear Ryanair’s appeal against proposed charges at Dublin Airport.

Latest: Anti-abortion campaigners have defended their proposed use of graphic images in protests scheduled for Dublin and Cork airports.

The chairman of the daa is looking for more flexibility when it comes to the government-imposed pay cap that might prove restrictive as the semi-state body searches for a new chief executive.

A third legal challenge over a decision extending planning permission for development of a new €320m runway at Dublin Airport has been be fast-tracked by the Commercial Court.

SIPTU members in the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), excluding Airport Police and Fire Service, have voted against the acceptance of Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) proposals.

A TD has called on the DAA to come clean about its support for Norwegian’s new low-fares transatlantic services out of Ireland amid concerns about the future of its proposed Cork to New York route, writes Eoin English.

Another hectic travel weekend is underway across the country this morning.

Deputy Kelly told the Public Accounts Committee he believed the Dublin Airport Authority had secured the flights to build the case for a third terminal.

Plans to launch the first transatlantic flights from Cork Airport to the US have finally been cleared for take-off after a stalled licence was sanctioned last night.

There are serious security concerns at Garda headquarters at revelations of a sophisticated people-smuggling operation at Dublin Airport, writes Cormac O'Keeffe and Joyce Fegan.

The Irish Tenors, ranked as one of the most successful Irish touring acts ever, alongside U2 and Riverdance, sing Ireland’s praises whenever they can.

Aer Lingus has written to its shareholders to rubbish claims it may be forced to stump up €200m to shore up workers’ pension entitlements.

Monday’s disruptive airport stoppages may have been averted, but there is little optimism that talks at the Labour Relations Commission can resolve the two-year old pension dispute at Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport Authority.

Siptu will this morning decide whether to call off the industrial action which could close the country’s airports next Monday and accept an invitation for talks with employers at the Labour Relations Commission.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has said there is real interest from industry in investing in Shannon Airport.