RYANAIR CHIEF EXECUTIVE Michael O’Leary’s comparison of other airlines to “rapists” will have lost his company the confidence of women who have been subject to sexual assault, Britain’s transport secretary has said.

O’Leary was heavily criticised in both Ireland and the UK after he said it was “absolutely” appropriate to compare competitor airlines to “rapists”.

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked for her thoughts on O’Leary’s comments, which have already drawn condemnation from Tánaiste Simon Harris and a number of other TDs. 

Alexander told LBC: “I’ve learnt in this job in the last two years, that Mr O’Leary is often quick to share his considered thoughts with me and with the wider world.

“I would say that women who have been raped and who have been subjected to such appalling violence, I’m not sure they’re going to be rushing to book tickets with him, let’s be honest.”

O’Leary has been asked to withdraw the “disgusting” remarks and apologise for them, with one support group offering him training on “how the trivialisation of rape is so harmful”.

In a statement on Thursday, executive director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland Corrinne Hasson told The Journal that the comments are “completely inappropriate and deeply offensive to survivors of sexual violence”.

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said she believed the remarks were likely not off-the-cuff, because O’Leary “knows it will get covered in the media”.

“It’s a provocative comment in order to have a cut at his competitors, and to throw around the word rapists like that is just very offensive and hurtful to survivors and victims of sexual assault and rape,” the Dublin West TD said.

Rachel Morrogh, chief executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, called the comments “lazy and uninformed”.

“It feels like Mr O’Leary is chasing soundbites with no regard for how they may affect people,” she said. 

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

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

The billionaire businessman 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, O’Leary told reporters: “Absolutely.”

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

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

Asked if he should apologise, 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.”

Leading rape support groups, including the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Rape Crisis Ireland and Rape Crisis England & Wales were among those who also criticised O’Leary’s remarks.

With reporting from David Mac Redmond