EAMON RYAN HAS hit back at an open letter from Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary calling on him to resign as transport minister.
In his letter, O’Leary today said Ryan either has “no idea what your own Government’s National Aviation Policy is, or you are determined to frustrate this policy”.
Ireland’s National Aviation Policy aims to support job growth in aviation and “maximise the contribution of the aviation sector to Ireland’s economic growth and development”.
O’Leary claimed Ryan has “failed to take any action to advance” these goals.
An open letter to @EamonRyan following the Transport Minister’s continued failure to act on his own aviation policy. pic.twitter.com/wjYYabdM7l
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) February 9, 2024
He also accused Ryan of “disappearing during the security queues crisis at Dublin in Summer 2022” and that he “disappeared again while drones closed Dublin Airport on six occasions during Spring 2023.
Images during the Summer of 2022 showed security queues stretching outside the terminal building.
O’Leary also described the 32 million passenger cap at Dublin Airport as “arbitrary and untenable” and claimed, “other EU airports are now laughing at Ireland’s ‘traffic cap’”.
He ends his letter by writing: “If you are unwilling to implement Ireland’s National Aviation Policy as Minister for Transport, why don’t you resign and let someone competent deliver this traffic, tourism and jobs growth for Ireland?”
Tonight, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan penned a response and said he “fundamentally” disagreed with O’Leary.
Ryan also said that the letters O’Leary has written during his time as transport minister have been “highly personalised, inaccurate and inflammatory”.
“I have invited you, through your executives, to meet with me, to discuss any issues you have face to face,” said Ryan.
“Those invitations have never once been taken up. I reiterate this open invitation to you again should you wish to accept.”
Meanwhile, Ryan said he has worked “tirelessly to deliver benefits to Irish people in aviation”.
Ryan added that claims he was “not involved or missing” during the 2022 security crisis at Dublin Airport are “completely false”.
“I worked assiduously, alongside my colleague Minister Hildegarde Naughton, with daily meetings to ensure that the daa was fully supported and the airport returned to normal for passengers and staff alike,” said Ryan.
He also disputed claims made by O’Leary about Dublin Airport being shut on several occasions due to drones.
“You are wrong to assert that I was not around for the drones issue,” said Ryan,
“The truth is I engaged directly and effectively to ensure that systems were put in
place to reduce the threat of illegal drone activity in and around the airport.”
He noted that Dublin Airport now has “clearance to use anti-drone technology and the legal right to jam their frequencies or take them down”.
It is illegal to fly a drone within 5km of an airport but until then the airport did not have the right to take them down.
Ryan also said that as transport minister, he “cannot intervene in the planning process, including the application seeking an extension of the existing passenger cap at Dublin Airport”.
Ryan added that such an intervention “would be wholly inappropriate and would mean that we had not learnt the lessons of the past”.
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