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Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary Alamy

Donohoe says he's not 'friends' with Michael O'Leary and paid for his own dinner with Ryanair boss

The Public Expenditure Minister has come under scrutiny over the February 2022 meeting with the airline chief.

PASCHAL DONOHOE HAS said he paid for his own meal during a “private meeting” with Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.

The Public Expenditure Minister has come under scrutiny from the opposition over the February 2022 meeting with the airline chief, which was previously undisclosed but reported yesterday by The Irish Times. 

Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said there was a need for Donohoe to “come clean” over the meeting, accusing Fine Gael of a lack of transparency and accountability.

He said: “Paschal Donohoe is the Minister for Public Expenditure and Michael O’Leary is a business figure who is regularly seeking to influence government policy.

“It is important for the Irish people to know whose interests their government really serves.”

Doherty said the minister did not disclose the dinner meeting when first asked about engagements with O’Leary. He said he later acknowledged the meeting after journalists came with more information.

“We have now been told by Fine Gael that no records were kept of the meeting as no actions were taken arising from it. That’s not good enough.”

Donohoe said today that “any matter that ever refers to government business is dealt with in the right way.

“Any meeting that I have with anybody that refers to Government business is recorded and it’s published in my diary.”

Donohoe was Finance Minister and 18 months into his Eurogroup presidency at the time of the dinner.

Asked if it was acceptable to have a purely social meeting with the chief executive of Europe’s biggest airline, given his roles at the time, he said: “Yes, it is.”

Pressed on what the two men talked about if no official business or policy was discussed, Donohoe said: “We talked about very general matters.”

“If any issue in relation to government, business, regulation or policy had been dealt with, that would have been recorded and it would have been dealt with in the same way that every other engagement that I do,” Donohoe. 

Donohoe said he would not describe himself as “friends” with O’Leary, adding that attendees “paid their fair share”.

It is not the first controversy involving Fine Gael and O’Leary during the election campaign.

The Ryanair boss appeared to malign teachers during the launch of enterprise minister Peter Burke’s campaign in Mullingar.

O’Leary and Fine Gael were criticised after the crowd at the event laughed when the airline chief said he would not hire teachers to “get things done”, saying the Dail needed more people from private sector backgrounds.

Burke and senior Fine Gael figures including Taoiseach Simon Harris welcomed O’Leary’s endorsement but distanced themselves from his remarks about teachers.

Doherty added: “It would be instructive for the public to know just how much influence Michael O’Leary has with Fine Gael and, by extension, over decisions made by that party in government.”

Donohoe was speaking to the media at the launch of Fine Gael’s election policies for Dublin and other urban centres.

The party said it is committed to transforming Dublin city centre into a more vibrant, safe and attractive destination in which to live and work.

Donohoe said Fine Gael would implement recommendations of the Dublin City Centre Taskforce, with a focus on revitalising O’Connell Street, delivering more visible policing and security, and transforming derelict sites.

Fine Gael also pledged improved security measures in the city centre with increased CCTV coverage and a targeted response to reduce open drug use, redeveloping the GPO, collaborating with cultural institutions to offer more late-night events and extended opening hours.

The party said it would recruit 6,000 new gardaí over the next five years and “reduce the concentration” of drug treatment facilities in the city centre.

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute wwvCLOuF
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    Jan 19th 2025, 7:33 AM

    Do the same here? Ban it from public transport anyway?

    232
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    Mute wwvCLOuF
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    Jan 19th 2025, 8:06 AM

    @Luke Littler: and vapers on transport. Ban them, too. How d’ya feel bout them, luke?

    73
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    Mute Stephen
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    Jan 19th 2025, 10:48 AM

    @wwvCLOuF: I smoke hash upstairs on the back of the 27. How do you feel about that, jmm?

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    Mute Iano C
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    Jan 19th 2025, 11:13 AM

    @Stephen: Ah he-ur, leeeve ‘er aut!

    16
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    Mute wwvCLOuF
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    Jan 19th 2025, 11:42 AM

    @Stephen: yeah, go on. As long as it’s not ‘de geer’ like on the old 40 bus..
    ( asking luke/dave doe/tired jim/liam money…that guy…what he thought because he’s getting his local td to ban all vapers…. )

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    Mute Symon
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    Jan 19th 2025, 12:55 PM

    @Stephen: * Jim. You’ve smoked too much.

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    Mute Daniel Skelton
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    Jan 19th 2025, 7:41 AM

    Well done, America! Hopefully other countries follow along.

    124
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    Mute Machine Learning IRE
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:04 PM

    @Daniel Skelton: It’s temporary. Trump will reverse the band tomorrow for 90 days. They’re trying to force a sale of it to his buddy Elon Musk, so they can influence the thinking of, and ultimately control, a greater portion of a new generation of voters. Mark my words…. The social media companies are teaming up to control America. Newspapers and the common news media are a thing of the past.

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    Mute Joe Willis
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:36 PM

    @Machine Learning IRE: What do you mean teaming up to control America? They have already been doing it for decades.

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    Mute Ulick
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:43 PM

    @Machine Learning IRE: So you prefer the Chinese Communist Party do it?

    9
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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Jan 19th 2025, 6:26 PM

    @Daniel Skelton: how will this help the average american in any tangible way?

    6
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    Mute Fiona
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    Jan 20th 2025, 1:08 PM

    @Machine Learning IRE: it’s like trump and his billionaire friends bought a copy of How to Set Up an Oligarchy for Dummies at the weekend

    3
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    Mute Dan The Man
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    Jan 19th 2025, 7:42 AM

    Ban all social media. Only allow Rte and the Journal. Society should only know what we need them to know….Hail!

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    Mute Michael Ryan
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    Jan 19th 2025, 9:37 AM

    @Dan The Man: whilst making them pay for the privilege too :)

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    Mute Temp Stuff
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    Jan 19th 2025, 4:33 PM

    @Dan The Man: you don’t have to ban them, just make them responsible for the content by making them follow the same publishing rules as newspapers and other publishers. Problem solved.

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    Mute Gearoid MacEachaidh
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    Jan 20th 2025, 7:47 AM

    @Temp Stuff: exactly this!

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    Mute K O
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    Jan 20th 2025, 10:39 AM

    @Temp Stuff: are rte responsible for the content they dish out,,,,,,,,,no I don’t think so.

    2
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    Mute Sean Higgins
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    Jan 19th 2025, 10:05 AM

    Glad to live in Ireland where media groups would never decide which news stories you can express and opinion on.

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    Mute Paul Harte
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    Jan 19th 2025, 11:11 AM

    @Sean Higgins: Media groups may not decide what you get to watch, but the government decides what you get to see.

    45
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    Mute Eoin Jackson
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:46 PM

    @Sean Higgins: I see what you did there you wiley old fox.

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    Mute Sun Rise
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:42 PM

    @Sean Higgins: Thankfully we live in a society were the owner of a website can decide on how they run their website.

    12
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    Mute Ted Daly
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    Jan 19th 2025, 3:49 PM

    @Paul Harte: oh you’re one of them. Rolls eyes

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    Mute Dere
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    Jan 19th 2025, 12:23 PM

    They can ban Tiktok but never once have they banned porn sites despite the massive damage it’s doing to society….tells you all you need to know how they want society to run.

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    Mute Joe Beirne
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    Jan 19th 2025, 11:43 PM

    @Dere: what damage does porn do?

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    Mute Niall Lappin
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    Jan 20th 2025, 9:55 AM

    @Dere: why does it remind you of what you’re not getting

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    Mute Rory Murphy
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    Jan 19th 2025, 9:06 AM

    There is going to be a big demand in USA now for VPN’s to get around the ban… Personally I think the whole platform has an effect on the intellectual state of the younger generation
    … And not in a positive way…. What a load of TIHS it is.

    83
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    Mute Des Daly
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    Jan 19th 2025, 9:19 AM

    @Rory Murphy: that won’t save the American content makers though. They rely wholly on the USA viewership for a living

    25
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    Mute Michael o Dwyer
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    Jan 19th 2025, 12:39 PM

    Am I mistaken or was trump against tik tok last time he was in office?

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    Mute Nemethon
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:01 PM

    @Michael o Dwyer: no your not mistaken at all Trump is the ultimate populist politician. He’ll restore TikTok tomorrow for 90 days leaving enough time for Musk Zuck and other cronies to launch a bid Project Liberty won’t get a look in and Trump will be a hero to the dumb yanks. Interesting the amount of US senators who invested heavily in Meta stocks in the lead up to this ban. And another interesting thing is Mr Shou TikTok CEO will be at Trumps inauguration

    59
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    Mute K H
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    Jan 19th 2025, 8:09 AM

    Too late for America..its already f##t

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    Mute David o sullivan
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    Jan 19th 2025, 9:16 AM

    @K H: Fart??

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    Mute Brian McCarthy
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    Jan 19th 2025, 9:23 AM

    @David o sullivan: your hilarious

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    Mute Symon
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:02 PM

    @David o sullivan: fast

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    Mute Symon
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:03 PM

    @David o sullivan: feet

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    Mute Symon
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:03 PM

    @David o sullivan: fort

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    Mute Machine Learning IRE
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:10 PM

    @Brian McCarthy: his hilarious what?

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:24 PM

    @David o sullivan: fukt

    5
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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Jan 19th 2025, 10:04 AM

    Ordinary working responsible people just get on with life but time rich(idle) cranky Disrupters are always looking for ways to disrupt society. Social media and MSM have been populated by disrupters rather than builders.

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    Mute SerotoninWars
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    Jan 19th 2025, 12:38 PM

    The Misinformation Wars. Pick our lie sites! Their lies and society combusting algorithms = bad. Ours = good.

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    Mute Paul W
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:32 PM

    What will all the tic toc influencers do now? Hope it’s banned for ever

    14
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    Mute Kieran Menon
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    Jan 19th 2025, 12:22 PM

    Oh noes!

    They’ll just migrate to the next of many others…

    12
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    Mute Carl Campbell
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    Jan 19th 2025, 8:18 PM

    Please ban it here too. It is such a toxic nasty platform with zero regulation or moderation.

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    Mute r k
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    Jan 19th 2025, 5:17 PM

    Small loss

    10
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    Mute Harry Callahan
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    Jan 19th 2025, 10:40 PM

    A good thing. Ban it before it becomes an open sewer like X.

    10
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    Mute Alan Kennedy
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    Jan 19th 2025, 1:46 PM

    What ever you do, don’t ban YouTube! Because it’s American and always tells the truth!

    9
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    Mute Old Times
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    Jan 20th 2025, 7:12 AM

    So he bows to China. He’s all talk that chap

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    Mute Ned
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    Jan 19th 2025, 4:58 PM

    No worries Trump will bring it back Monday he’s the boss now.

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    Mute Kevin O Brien
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:05 PM

    Total Control

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    Mute Jack Hayes
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    Jan 19th 2025, 4:41 PM

    The largest social media platforms are I n hock to Trump.

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    Mute Jason Pigott
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:43 PM

    vpn

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    Mute Maurice
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:12 PM

    Tik Toxic….”This may be perceived as toxic”
    Mindless rubbish

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    Mute Ted Daly
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    Jan 19th 2025, 3:50 PM

    @Maurice: for every silly dancing woman on tik tok there are tonnes of educational, brilliant and informative vids. Your algorithms reflect you. You obviously like krap.

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    Mute pete sake
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    Jan 19th 2025, 4:56 PM

    @Ted Daly: ah hear! in a 20s video clip delivering vital educational information approved by the communist party?

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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Jan 19th 2025, 2:20 PM

    Like clockwork.

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    Mute Kevin O Brien
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    Jan 20th 2025, 2:36 PM

    Its usually the ones telling the lies that want the truth banned
    Covid anyone

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