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MINISTER FOR SOCIAL Protection Heather Humphreys has said she is hanging up her “political boots” when asked if she is done with public life – including a mooted bid for the presidency next year.
Months after being appointed deputy Fine Gael leader, and just weeks out from a general election, she made the shock announcement that she would not be running.
She has said this was due to not being physically able to serve for another five years.
“I’m not dying or anything, there’s nothing major wrong with me,” she said when the news emerged. “The problem in politics is that if you slow the pace down, someone else will pass you out.”
She said she told the Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris at the end of August and he wished her well.
Humphreys, who has been a TD for Cavan-Monaghan since 2011, is among the 15 current Fine Gael TDs who are not seeking re-election.
This is despite a boost in polling numbers for the party since Harris took over as leader in March.
Humphreys was one of their most experienced TDs, having served as a Cabinet minister for the arts, business, justice, rural development and social protection.
Her name had been floated among possible contenders for an Áras bid next year.
Asked about the possibility earlier today, Humphreys replied: “I’m hanging up my political boots and I’m going to get involved in other things.
“I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family and my friends because some of them have been put on hold for the last 14 years, so they’ll be getting the phone calls now and having me out for coffee.
“But there’s other things to do in life and I’m looking forward to that.”
Asked if she was definitely stepping away from public life, she added: “I’m hanging up those political boots, I’m giving them a good rest.”
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2 years ago when I was home from Australia Ryanair had been successful in driving Aer Arann and Aer Lingus out of the Dublin – Kerry route .. Ended up having to drive due to the lack of service. They obviously didn’t make money out of this as Aer Arann are back on the route. I’m only one customer on one day of the year. It’s frightening to think the cost and inconvenience any takeover would have on everyone.
in many cases where you don’t book months in advance Ryanair are more expensive that Aer Lingus on like-for-like flights. It would be a disaster if Aer Lingus were to be taken over by these cowboys. I have been let down too frequently flying Ryanair I would never use them again. How they stay in business by treating their customer like shit is staggering.
When Ryanair first started way back I was proud it was Irish and loved the jaunty harp on the tail and it’s corporate device.
It was welcome competition, the prices for flights with national carriers in the dark old days were hideous – so from that point of view the cheeky Irish airline did good.
Steadily they started to piss everyone off, the stupid website with it’s garish vulgarity, the silly news stories, a buffoon at the helm, safety concerns, accidents etc..
The new Aer Lingus with it’s corporate ethos of excellence, tasty food, convenient schedules, end-to-end airline service, partnerships with other airlines etc.. all at the best prices – can’t be beaten. Please don’t take that away from us.
Getting onto an Aer Lingus plane is like being welcomed home. You can’t say that about Ryanair.
I agree that you can get just as good value with aer lingus and other airlines as with Ryanair. Especially when you count things like the airports they fly into and times of the flights. London is a great example. Fly direct to Heathrow and you are directly on the subway line and less than an hour to a large part of the city. Fly to the other airports and you are an hour by bus to 1 point in the city (Paddington I think) and you then have to find your way to your hotel.
It’s a pyramid scheme… There’s a huge base of dumb and cheap people who can’t rationalise the cost/value of things, ryanair keeps just pulling from that pool. The question is what will happen when they have pissed off too many former customers and the pool isn’t there to expand any more. The answer is launch hostile takeover bids and drive out competition which is what we are seeing now.
Having said that I still have respect for Ryanair. They made it affordable for a lot of people to fly. As long as you play by the Ryanair rules you can get value. I just don’t understand some people who don’t even consider alternative airlines because they are “more expensive”
Getting on an Aer Lingus plane is like being welcomed home……….. I couldn’t have said it better myself!
I remember missing a flight home to Cork from Heath row through my own time management ineptitude. I explained my case to Aer Lingus and they were ‘No problem sir, you can take the next flight in an hour’ A similar situation occurred at JFK when a connecting flight was delayed and they put me on a flight the following morning. Do you think Ryanair would be as accommodating? They would in their F*%k.
Well done. Please keep the freedom of choice.
If Ryanair remain the only company, be sure the flight tickets prices will hike up. Not to mention the creepy idea of Ryanair being the only Irish company. It makes me shiver.
No surprise there! Best news I’ve heard today although to give Ryanair their due, they did help bring down the cost of flying which seems to have crept up again due to fees, taxes, charges, etc. Yet now, they are as expensive, if not more, than Aer Lingus!
Ryanair were once the ‘Low Fares’ airline, they’re now the ‘Low Cost’ airline. It was a cute move my the lad in my profile picture but the fact is, Ryanair isn’t that cheap compared on some routes. Good decision today, Ryanair cannot be allowed to create a monopoly.
Totally agree, a rare good decision by the EU
I don’t think it can be called a rare decision . It’s the 3rd time they’ve blocked this takeover
Sure, but I meant more generally. On the macro economic policy front, the EU, in the shape of Rehn & others are appalling, making the banking crisis a universal economic catastrophe (for the many, not the top few percent elites, that is).
Hey …O’Leary, what comes around goes around. You said vote Yes! here’s your payola.
And where are all your friends when you need them MOL? Oh wait, you have none.
Try being nice.
Not siding with O’Leary here Paul but I think you’d agree the last thing we need is another tycoon getting ‘friendly’ with the politicians.
Never mind being nice – try being polite! It has a certain value, as Mr O’Leary is just discovering.
vote yes for jobs , what a lie and a joke , it should have been vote yes to if you want to live in Africa and Asia.
I admire Michael O’Leary for how much of a success Ryanair is, but I would hate to have to only have the option of flying Ryanair out of Ireland. Imagine going on any sort of trip that involved bags or sports gear, would be an expensive disaster!
Yippeeeee.
If Ryanair was the only airline operating in Ireland I would seriously consider leaving the country
Susanna Smyth, maybe bit you would have to travel Ryanair.
Not really. There are more than 2 airlines flying out of Ireland. And there are these things called boats………
Always the ferry as well .
O’Leary’s main aim is to get rid of the competition on Spanish and Polish routes. Why? Because 20,000 Irish people bought holiday homes in Spain and regularly fly over and back (as do their families). And there are still 50,000 plus Polish people working and living in Ireland who regularly fly back home. Ryanair have already seen off several Spanish competitors (e.g. Spanair) and can easily undercut any airline who dares enter the market by even running at a loss for a time if necessary. Aer Lingus offer some competition on Spain/Poland but if O’Leary succeeds he will have a free hand and charge €300 each way to these destinations. Oh – plus “taxes” and “charges” of course.
EI are backing out of Poland, they no longer fly to Krakow…we fly there about 4 times a year and now FR are the only option. I like FR, and O’ Leary, I used to work for him, but I want choice….and this is a good decision by the EU but EI pulling oput of Krakow, when, from what I could see, they made a profit on the line is not good for competition.
Con , are those statistics official? I would love to know how you got the info that 20,000 Irish people bought houses in Spain. Was it all done in one day? How many in Portugal ? 18,277 ?
1. There is no way you can know if EI made a profit on the KRK route as the information isn’t available.
2. Do you really think they would pull off a profitable route??
The last thing we need is a Ryanair monopoly …nightmare!
You don’t get it Michael do you? You have turned full circle & forgot all the things that transformed Ryanair from a humble Irish operator into one of the leading world airlines.
Ryanair at first offered the ordinary person the opportunity to travel frequently to destinations at affordable prices,something the national airlines could not do. Ryanair also cut a lot of the red tape & stupid procedures that cut travel time and created great efficiencies.
The Ryanair of today is a totally different animal, it does not care about anything else just it’s own corporate greed. They have forced competition off some routes and then pulled out of the same routes leaving the consumer without a service. Their stringent if not bullying approach to carry on luggage has left many of the airport retailers throughout Europe with know option but to close,again leaving the consumer without a choice. They tried to bully the Irish government to force AerLingus from some areas of Dublin airport when they did’t succeed they transferred planned badly needed jobs abroad. The stories are endless…
Michael whoever told you that the Irish people wanted you to takeover & dismantle AerLingus? The truth is Michael the Irish people have fallen out of love with you where once they were so so proud of your achievements…..
The truth is that today most people look on Ryanair in the same way that they used to look on the old national carriers,time to cop on Michael!
Everyone would be travelling off this island on ferries or have to travel to Belfast international airport if OLeary had a monopoly. He’ll charge whatever he can get away with.
Does anyone seriously think he would operate any cheap fares if he got his monopoly? Whatever price he would have to pay for Aer Lingus would quickly be recouped from the flying public.
Booking a flight with Ryanair you would need a degree in computer science, no I don’t want a suitcase a hotel room, a car priority boarding I just want to book a flight and to the destination I want not 100 miles away-lottery tickets no-fake cigarettes no the last thing Ryanair want to give a passenger is a pleasant flight long live Aer Lingus
I dont mind paying the extra few quid not to be treated like a head of cattle and to actually arrive in the city I wish to travel to. i.e. Vienna-Bratislava now that was a joke I will never forget.
A good European decision that effects this country…. what a shock that is##
Can anyone explain to me how having rude customer-facing staff and not allocating seats saves Ryan Air any money what so ever?
It’s interesting that discount airlines in other countries don’t have this problem.
I fly Newcastle – Dublin at least once a month and when I book a couple of weeks in advance I have never paid more than £70 return for my flights.
Recently owing to a family funeral I booked last minute (night before I flew home) and if cost me £150.
Ryanair are the only airline flying Newcastle-Dublin. They have a “monopoly” on this route and yet are priced competitively in line with many of their other routes. They run at least one flight a day, more often two, and the times are fairly reasonable. Also, having flown on almost off of them at this stage they are all full or close to capacity… Because they are competitively priced.
Some people seem to have a weird an distorted perception of Ryanair and an equally of Aer Lingus.
sincerely,
Michael O’Leary with a different user name
Now Alan you know your not allowed speak nicely or good of Ryanair, you’ll upset all the loyal Shamrocks that comment and give out about Ryanair even though they have never even flown with them or dealt with them.
Do you not think the flights being full or close to capacity on the Dublin-Newcastle route has more to do with the monopoly you just referred to?
Fred, you seem to have missed the substantive point. Despite the relative monopoly on the Newcastle-Dublin route Ryanair continue to charge competitively for seats and as a result of that maintain close to capacity on all their flights. The fears expressed here are that they will gain a monopoly and begin gouging customers to fly out of Ireland. I have provided an example, mind you just one, of a situation where they are the only carrier on a route and retain their “low fares” principle. I do not doubt there this is reflected on other such routes.
I, for one, would not fly as often of prices didn’t allow me to.
My nearest aer Lingus served Air port is Edinburgh. It’s also served by Ryanair. On the same days (19th-21st April) the lowest Aer Lingus flight is almost twice as expensive (£82) as the cheapest Ryanair flight (£44) at similar times.
Leeds Bradford also only Ryanair serving Dublin shows a similar story as Newcastle. A consistent £76 for a tern trip to Dublin.
Sure Dublin-London may be slightly different but there is competition on that route with so many airports and airlines.
@Fred – is it Ryanair’s fault that no other Airlines fly Dublin to Newcastle
I wasn’t disagreeing with your overall point, Alan, just pointing out that price isn’t necessarily the main reason the flights are full. I agree with you that Ryanair isn’t the money-gouging demon it is often portrayed as. Of course it is in any airline’s interests to keep prices at a certain level so they have full flights.
It is interesting though, that it costs only £44 to get to Edinburgh when there is a competitor on the route and £70 to get to Newcastle when there is no competitor. Obviously there could be many factors influencing the price difference, and picking out two fares and two airports from hundreds proves nothing. Still interesting though.
Chris – of course not you big silly.
Couldn’t agree more with the court’s decision. Ryanair have brought the cost of air travel down, but these days their low prices are few and far between. The big pitfall with them, I have found, is you book a trip a few months out to get a good fare, then they completely change their schedule, screwing up your plans. You might be arriving 5 or 6 hours later than you were originally or they’ve stopped flying on that day of the week, and all because they probably saved a fiver swapping the landing slots with someone else. I’ve been caught more than a few times by this Ryanair maneuver. Their lack of commitment to customer satisfaction means they chop and change their routes as often as it suits them with little or no regard for the ripple effect the changes have on passengers. Letting them take over Aer Lingus would be a disaster for the travelling public.
Hopefully this will be the last that we hear from Ryanair and their take over bid, Also a part from flying passengers to European&US destinations Aer Lingus operate freight services which a lot of Irish and FDI companies rely on also the postal services.
Ryanair was modeled on a US airline called Southwest Airlines but MOL wanted to cut even more off for profits, Anyone that works in the industry knows that the approx 75% of the Ryanair pilots are self employed contractors, The cabin crew and the majority of ground crew are working via an agency probably not knowing if and when they could be let go with no real job security.
And as for the Ryanair website I remember a few years back while booking flights for a stag I could not find the opt out for the insurance policy.
Ended up having to call a mate who informed me that the opt out feature is in the country of origin tab between Latvia&Lithuania, Talk about a sneaky shower of f**ks and so much for MOL flying around Europe with a logo for the yes to Europe on his planes.
I want it Mummy, I need it Mummy, and I am going to get it Mummy, not yet dear Boy not this time, but you do have the taxi money rebate every year I know it is only € 93,000 euro but you cannot have it all, can you?
Much as a despise Ryanair and their apparent contempt for the customer, I recently used a similar airline in the US (for a couple of flights) and found them to be every bit as bad.
And I’d use Air Lingus more in a heartbeat if they’d expand their airports across Europe a bit more :(
Having said that, glad Ryanair won’t be monopolising the industry just yet.
Lauren, are you conjoined twins?
No matter where you fly always use http://www.skyscanner.net to ensure you’re getting the cheapest fare ! Best flight price comparison site out there and owned by an Irishman too !
I always use skyscanner, I never knew it was Irish owned!
Yep, Ray Nolan is behind it, same guy who was behind Hostelworld.com till he sold his stake
Thank God.
Michael scratching his head.
“It says here that our proposed competition remedies left them f@$%n short!!!”
Isn’t that what we’re known for?
Destination – almost.
Luggage – not enough.
Service – minimal
Value for money – mostly.
Integrity – If necessary.
What the @$%& is their problem???
A rare good decision from the comission alright. Its pretty plain to see from the responses so far that effectively no one wanted to see this happen except Ryanairs board and shareholders. They were attempting to buy a profitable airline with a €1 billion pile of cash for something like €650 million For a start, Aer Lingus’s short haul operations out of Ireland would ahve been decimated. The whole Flybe Ireland idea of allaying competition fears would have been a puppet for ryanair, gladly taking the €100 million Ryanair would “give” them to start operations, but pulling out of routes after a few years as soon as they were not obliged to continue them (3 yearsd IIRC). This would have been a disaster for the country if it had been allowed go ahead, at least the EU sayw sense and blocked it
easyJet or BA would be far more desirable would-be suitors.
I mention easyJet cause they don’t currently serve airports in the Republic, and unlike Ryanair, they fly to airports in the cities they say they’re flying to! So many (though not all) of Ryanair’s destinations save you a couple of euro, only to have to pay the same or more to waste ages on a bus, to get the bloody city it said you were going to in the first place!
I can take the no food-no drinks on intra-Europe flights. I can even take Ryanair’s ridiculously stringent application of the rules on baggage weight etc. But the prospect of the only service to “Paris” and “Frankfurt” being Beauvais and Hahn (among others) is where I’d draw the line.
And that would happen. Because no other low-cost carrier flies to these destinations. A monopoly Ryanair could easily cut service to Charles de Gaulle to save a few cent, and unless you wanted to fly with Air France at a much higher price, there’d be very little anyone could do about it.
I bet he’s sorry now he allowed himself to be used a puppet by the Yes to Lisbon shower .
No one is forcing people to travel with Aer Lingus, if they are exploiting the routes they have monopolies on other airlines will come in and seize that opportunity. It’s a business model that works, they pay tax in Ireland and use their reinvested profits to expand. As opposed to Aer Lingus which leaks money.
to travel with Ryanair*
Try reading the Aer Lingus annual reports. It’s a business that has been profitable for several years and generates a strong annual cash flow. You’ll swiftly find facts are better than propaganda.
There is some dichotomy in EU’s decision however. Air France and KLM were allowed merge, as were British Airways and Iberia. I’m sure those airlines also had a lot of routes in common they would have had to compete over.
One major thing you are missing out on there Sergé…the countries in which those airlines are based are not islands!
All four airlines serve similar destinations outside of Europe, yes, but their hubs are in different cities (Paris, Amsterdam, London and Madrid) meaning the majority of their flights originate in different places. So their main routes do not overlap.
Also there is a big difference between carriers forming an alliance to pool passengers on round the world itineraries and one airline acquiring another.
A merged Ryanair-Aer Lingus would have had 100% monopoly on all routes between Dublin and London, except those to LCA (which are comparatively few anyway). Even if Dublin is not in Europe’s largest capital cities, this route is still one of the busiest in Europe.
Already BA had to give up the route due to intense competition. A merged entity could easily force out Air France through aggressive medium-term pricing strategies.
I like flying aerlingus regional.I do not want Ryanair to take over in any way
Ryanair has no friends including his staff.Thank God he did not get his hands on Aerlingus .Always fly aerlingus and always will .Good service good customer base .Everyone could see your deal was bad for Ireland .Hey try Russia see how you get on bye bye .
ryanair is the worst airline i have Ever experanced in my life, bad service, bad staff, no careing for the passangers , horrible !
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