Michael O’Leary refuses to apologise after Ryanair ‘rapists’ comments criticised

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary said he would not be apologising (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA)

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has refused to apologise after he was accused of trivialising rape.

The billionaire was heavily criticised by victims’ groups and politicians in both Ireland and the UK after he said this week it was “absolutely” appropriate to compare competitor airlines to “rapists”.

He was urged to offer a “swift apology” by the chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Rachel Morrogh, who said he had trivialised rape.

Ms Morrogh had written to Mr O’Leary to offer him free training on sexual violence and the impact it has on people who experienced it.

In a published responding letter on Friday, Mr O’Leary described rape as a “heinous crime”.

He said: “Since I certainly did not trivialise the heinous crime of rape, I will certainly not be issuing any apology or accepting your offer of training.”

Mr O’Leary made the comment ahead of his airline’s annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday.

He claimed rising air travel prices at other airlines would see passengers switch to Ryanair.

He told reporters at the company’s headquarters: “You might find some people will choose not to fly with Ryanair – but you know they’ll be overrun with the people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA, and others desperate to get to Ryanair’s low fares because they can’t afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe.”

He later repeated the “high-fare rapists” comments.

Asked whether this was appropriate language, Mr O’Leary told reporters: “Absolutely.”

He later said rape was a “terrible crime” but rejected the assertion he was trivialising rape.

Simon Harris calls for O’Leary to listen to experts

Tánaiaste Simon Harris said the comments were “clearly an inappropriate use of language” and Mr O’Leary “should have moved to rectify it”.

Asked if he should apologise, Mr Harris told reporters at his Fine Gael party think-in: “I think he should listen to the experts and there’s been many out today.”

Elsewhere, enterprise minister Peter Burke called for the Ryanair chief to apologise over the comments.

Speaking at the Fine Gael think-in, Mr Burke called on Mr O’Leary to apologise over the “rapist” remarks.

“We should never trivialise sexual violence in this country,” he said.

“I think the comments were not appropriate. Victims of sexual crimes deserve our respect, deserve our support, and we've heard a number of agencies who do that support and work in the field really say how hurtful it has been.

“I think Michael should reflect on those comments. I think he should apologise.”