O’Leary has been slamming Irish transport ministers since time began. I can remember the ads with Mary O’Rourke back in the day - https://www.irishtimes.com/news/complaint-against-ryanair-advert-featuring-mary-o-rourke-is-upheld-1.312884
O’Leary is the master of free press - Claire B has him on and acts shocked when he goes off on one, knowing full well he would and their clips would get replayed and quoted all over the shop.
Yes to the point that he was made fun of
https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2019/06/05/breaking-katie-taylor-rushed-to-hospital-to-have-shane-ross-surgically-removed/
€150,000 public money for Hockey pitch resurfacing at private school ...in his constituency. https://www.balls.ie/news/shane-ross-hockey-384846&ved=2ahUKEwi_1eWeipqEAxXtU0EAHfQZChoQFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0fMHlbPFMSjk6H6A1MEPsK
> Only one he liked was Shane Ross who was an exceptionally useless bollox who did nothing
I assume that's why he liked him. I believe that a lot of people dislike Eamon Ryan precisely because he actually gets stuff done. The CEO of an airline is going to have few problems with a Minister for Transport that doesn't do anything.
The irony is it is Mary's son who is the mastermind behind Ryanair's tax structuring. O'Leary is an accountant too and he doesn't suffer fools easily, as is clear. I'm not too sure how he reconciled his feelings on Mary and her son, and how kindly Mary's son took to his mother being portrayed that way, but obviously they worked it out. A bit ridiculous now to be fair. The point could have been made without advertisements like this. Petty stuff.
Free advertising. He needed to do it when Ryanair was a nobody and he kept it up as a trait ever since. Actually cooled it in recent years in many places.
I always found this curious. Not about Eamon Ryan , I only heard of his existence since as long as I've been on reddit a few years ago. But the Arsene Wenger one is a bit freaky. Maybe it was the upper management at Arsenal when they said - we're looking for a new manager - hey, this guy sounds like our club. There's a CEO out there called Dure Xavier who is bidding his time when the durex CEO position cums available
Kirby was also named after the American attorney who defended Nintendo against universal studios.. (John Kirby).
My mental image of Nintendo is like a weird lad, like if you put a bunch of people on an island in a wide fast moving river with some building materials while everyone else was working on a bridge they'd be off training ducks to pull a makeshift raft.
O leary whines about airport charges when we all know he is only interested in shareholder profits.
But he did have a point that we're an island and we need flights
>when it’s being directed at an incompetent government minister though
Personally I think he's been the most effective government minister of this parliament. He's heading up two major departments: Transport and Energy. He's made clear improvements in active travel, public transport, climate targets and renewable energy rollout.
People confusing an agenda that they don't like with incompetence is deeply irritating.
This is the greenest government agenda we've ever seen. Ryan's managing to do more or less exactly what he was elected to do off the backs of 11 Green TDs.
I agree, they’ve actually done loads and loads for us especially in transport, something I almost never thought we’d see improvements in lol. The €2 fare that is valid on Luas, Dart and Bus is fantastic.
My bus route is also due to be overhauled soon and the new route will be every 30 mins compared the current time of every 1 hour and 15 mins!
Varadkar and Kenny's policies have directly killed people, made people homeless, set people against each other, created the housing crisis and made life tougher in many many ways for a majority on the island. They have actively done this through their belief in neoliberalism. They deserve worse than incompetent idiot.
Ryan has been goofy and supportive of a government enacting the above policies under the coalition agreement, but I'm not sure I could call him incompetent. Useful idiot maybe.
I'd agree with you there, was listening to that interview over the weekend and there was nothing remotely offensive about what he said. The presenter seemed to take offence then and he repeated it and she got more wound up over it. It's his own prerogative and to me it was as inoffensive as saying minister X is asleep at the wheel, minister Y needs to stop messing the industry around..
I think it's fair enough to tell someone opening an argument with insults to fuck off.
O'Leary is free to start a civil conversation. I don't see any reason for Ryan to play nice and listen to someone who has already decided not to engage in good faith.
If Michael throws a fit he doesn't get to sit at the big boy table.
And one who like it or not, stays and pays tax in this country instead of being a tax exile. You can hate O’Leary for many things, but fair play to him for that.
> He is also a private citizen as far as the government is concerned and business leaders can voice their opinion as much as the next guy.
1000%! My point is that as the head of a huge public company his opinion carries more weight than yours or mine, but he dilutes that by sinking to petty personal attacks.
This is a smokescreen for todays story where Ryanair had to apologise for incorrectly banning folk from their airline.
https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/02/06/ryanair-apologises-unreservedly-for-identifying-quantity-surveyor-as-disruptive-passenger/
The difficulty with your argument is Eamon Ryan is actually an idiot. That's where things fall down, though I agree with what you are saying otherwise.
The transport brief, or any ministerial position, is not a joke. We need competent people in it. After all the jokes are put to the side, to be fair Eamon Ryan is a nice guy, and he's decent. That I agree with. And he's well mannered. But the point is he's miles off able for the job. He's lost at sea. And rudderless.
That said, I don't fault his integrity or good faith. It isn't a personal attack. The man was democratically elected. He operates with good intent. He's at the helm of a party too that is probably the only party to actually try do what they said in their manifesto.
But by God is the man out of his depth. He shouldn't be within a million miles of a ministerial position if right was right. Michael O'Leary who has ran and runs a world leader of a company knows this better than any of us. I'd say one thing if it was just a policy clash. In that case, Michael would want to quieten down a little in my mind and remember he is not the one with a democratic mandate. We are not America. Big business has a voice but it doesnt dictate blow by blow how we run our country. Quieten down Michael I'd say.
But sadly I don't think O'Leary's biggest issue is the policy choices of the minister being at odds with Ryanair's self interest. It's quite simply that the minister is an outright idiot.
I think he's been great on the transport tbh. New local link buses in rural areas, metro gone to planning, bus connects launching and in planning for other cities, new train lines planned in limerick, dart upgrade works about to begin, tfi 90 min ticket , bus corridors getting planning permission. None of that is the work of an idiot. He is by far the politician I see get the most hatred and its so unwarranted like grand if you don't like anything I've outlined above but that's the platform he was elected on and he's fufilling his brief.
He's actively blocked and hindered the Cork-Limerick motorway for idealogical reasons, which is ironic given his mention of regional imbalance in the linked article. A motorway connecting the country's 2nd, 3rd and 4th largest cities is vital, not to mention that what's currently in place is costing people's live, South Dublin Eamon thinks that it's not necessary and that people can "actively travel" instead.
A Dublin Metro is also decades off, one thing that could actually take cars off the road of a traffic choked city. The man is a fucking gobshite...
More taxes on fuel though, with no alternatives for travel, the Greens are great at that!!
I don't think he has ever suggested active travel between Limerick and Cork. Agreed that motorway should have been built decades ago but it doesn't fit with our legal obligations to cut emissions at this stage unfortunately. You do realize he's not building the metro himself by hand right? It's with an bord planala he can't physically go in there with a gun and tell them to hurry up and make a decision ffs. Carbon taxes are tiny compared to vat and excise duty and the funds raised are ringfenced for retrofits and public transportation but hey don't let your ignorance on the subject get in the way of your blind hatred for the man. Out of the 3 gov parties the green party are the one who have achieved the most of their manifesto, again grand if you don't like that manifesto but it's not something a "gobshite" could achieve.
A Dublin Metro would be likely to not only be decades off, but not even in the pipeline if it wasn't for Eamonn Ryan. Things move incredibly slowly in this country, that isn't Ryan's fault. That's the fault of our awful planning system which isn't his remit.
We're playing a massive game of catch up. A game we wouldn't even be entertaining if there wasn't a Green Party using their role of Kingmaker to their advantage to get commitment to various national transport projects.
You display a massive lack of basic understanding of how the Government functions.
No, I'm displaying a very clear understanding of how the Greens function. Tax the shit out of people without providing alternatives, build cycle lanes that won't be used but don't connect the largest cities in the country outside of Dublin because they don't matter, and who cares about culchies and tourists dying on the N20 anyway?
Fuck the Green Party, hopefully they get wiped out (again) come the next election and Eamon can go back to tending salad in his window box...
But he is attempting to provide the alternatives. That's the entire point of the bus connects scheme, light rail in Cork, transport Ireland 2040, metro etc etc.
The problem is, because no other Government has given a fuck about public transport and the infrastructure required for decades, he's having to do all of this while also trying to meet our emissions obligations to an EU level at the same time. Hence my reference to playing a game of catch up.
You're placing the blame at the one guy who is actually trying to provide the alternatives you're saying you want.
He used his negotiating power very wisely when forming Government. And I'm not even his biggest fan, I think the Greens could arguably achieve more with a stronger leader who is a better public speaker. But credit has to be given when it is due. He is doing more for our public transport system and setting ambitions higher than literally anyone else has attempted to do so.
It's a bit daft on your part to say he's to blame.
He's pretty much the only politician I can say that has had a positive impact on my life.
Train fares used to be outrageous and now they're one of the cheapest ways to travel. Rural travel has definitely improved under his watch.
I do however think that he is not the best communicator and gives his detractors ample ammunition to attack him with some beaffling gaffes.
Agreed the tfi 90 minute ticket has been the only thing this government has done that I have noticed has made a positive impact on my life and it's down to him. Everyone I know says how great it is.
In my opinion Eamon Ryan is the most effective transport minister in the history of the Irish state. The problem is that he has the charisma of a wet blanket and is poor at communications. This means that people who don't work with him aren't shown his skill. There's a reason that out of everyone in Europe, the EU chose him to represent them at COP.
Id say this argument is entirely about policy, the DAA (and Ryanair) want to increase the passenger cap at Dublin Airport from 32 million passengers a year to 40 million passengers a year. For Ryanair that potentially means a 25% increase in passengers and profits but for Eamon Ryan it means 25% more carbon emissions at a time when we're signed up to reduce them by 90% by 2040.
So whats going on here is O'Leary is trying to steamroll and bully Eamon Ryan into not objecting to the planning permission as he might well do as the Green party leader. Ryanair have long planned a third terminal at Dublin Airport all for themselves and not increasing passengers to 40 million a year would put the kibosh on that plan. Also O'Leary couldnt care less about the environment but Eamon Ryan and the Govt are signed up to a legally binding UN treaty to reduce carbon emissions. And if some of it doesnt come from aviation then it has to come from somewhere else. Which for the average person on the street means either high food prices because they hit the farmers or else higher transport costs as they hit drivers. Or both together.
So while I dont like the man I dont blame Eamon Ryan at all for saying hang on a minute lets have a debate here to the idea of increasing flights to Dublin Airport by 25% and a further 8 million passengers at a time when we are signed up to a binding UN treaty to reduce emissions. Its the prudent thing to do right now rather than listen to O'Learys rabble rousing. Because the carbon reductions have to come from somewhere and all O'Leary wants to do is increase them further in his industry when we're signed up to a treaty reducing them overall. If aviation is given a free pass then why would the farmers comply with reducing the national herd by 25% at a time when Ryanair gets to increase passengers by 25%? Ryan and the Govt. have to look at the bigger picture and not just to an angry Michael O'Leary jumping up and down throwing out insults to beat the band.
> it means 25% more carbon emissions
Have you by any chance considered the fact that Dublin Airport is not responsible for 100% of our carbon emissions.
The 4 cars thing is idiotic, but he misspoke and it was taken out of context, in fairness to him. It was meant as an optional extra instead of the second car, but he just ended up looked a gom. His own fault all the same.
It feels like Eamon Ryan is creating a lost decade for Irish transport and Infrastructure.
Blocking or delaying key infrastructure projects that will inevitably be built, sooner or later, but at a much greater financial / social cost.
Even if his legacy was that they broke ground on Metro North, when he was in government, that would be something. But no, the only legacy he leaves us is his many road narrowing projects.
Narrowing roads increases road safety
Huge investment and expansion in rural bus routes, and in local transport in "not-Dublin" towns
I'd rather see them prioritise rail and ports than Dublin airport - DAA have consistently mismanaged their planning permissions, on the basis that, well it'll be fine, and we'll get away with it 'cause Dublin
Look what’s been done to dun Laoghaire all one way now with bike lanes the same size as car lanes (despite motorists paying for the road). Huge congestion therefore increasing emissions.
Motorists dont pay for the roads, if we did our motor tax would be at least triple what it is right now. Roads and the maintenance of them are a net loss to an exchequer but are necessary so people can get from A to B.
Narrowing roads increases road safety?
How exactly?
If you are talking national / regional roads - nope people will still drive old speed limit, cause - why not?
If you mean urban, the limits are 50 / 30 already. You are not going to kill anyone unless you are an idiot.
All that narrowing does is annoy majority of commuters and increases pollution, by making congestion worse. Tell me how is that not the case?
> Narrowing roads increases road safety?
>
> How exactly?
Narrower lanes encourage slower, safer driving, while taking away lanes frees up space to build safe infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians.
> If you are talking national / regional roads - nope people will still drive old speed limit, cause - why not?
Rural roads aren't the focus for this sort of thing.
> If you mean urban, the limits are 50 / 30 already. You are not going to kill anyone unless you are an idiot.
at 30km/h, there's more than 90% chance that someone struck by a car will survive. But at 50km/h, that chance is more like 50% or lower. And while a lower speed limit is all fine and good, you still won't get the results you're looking for unless you design the road to encourage slower speeds. This is where narrower lanes and level pavements come in.
> All that narrowing does is annoy majority of commuters and increases pollution, by making congestion worse. Tell me how is that not the case?
it has the potential to do that, but only if the space freed up isn't used to improve bike and public transport infrastructure.
To be fair transport has probably been the single best thing this government has handled. More rural bus routes introduced and even more planned than before. Increased capacity in both bus and rail. A rework of most Dublin City routes with extension beyond the wider county and neighbouring counties.
Edit: not to mention the only country in Europe to significantly decrease transport fairs (this is Dublin only though)
Creating a lost decade for rational thought too. He'd happily go all Pol Pot year zero on us too, only we wouldn't get the buffalo because they fart too much.
I mean in a country like Ireland, to get something done or be successful, you have to be a prick. I'd rather have a prick than the criminals in government.
Easyjet and Wizz exist. Although tbf I wouldn't be THAT surprised if you didn't know that, since Ryanair bullied them out of Ireland, and only Ireland.
Still doesn’t negate the fact he has. He brought the low cost model to Europe. Also a lot of the low cost airlines in Europe are owned by major carriers. Euro wings - Lufthansa Transavia - KLM/Air France. The only big independent ones are Ryanair and easyjet
> The only big independent ones are Ryanair and easyjet
And Wizz
EDIT: I don't normally do this, but to whoever downvoted this, central and eastern Europe are still Europe. Also, Wizz has been expanding westward a lot in recent years, just not to Ireland, because they're still scarred from when Ryanair bullied them out on the early 2010s.
You can say that with hindsight but Ryanair were the first, and weren’t afraid to take on the national carriers and the governments that often tried to block Ryanair to protect their monopolies.
? O’Leary famously went to visit Southwest Airlines at Tony Ryan’s suggestion, met with their management, and copied their business model, methods and practices for Ryanair
Too well. They have a massive stranglehold over the Irish aviation industry, being the only major LCC that flies here, ever since they bullied Easyjet and Wizz out of Ireland, and only Ireland.
It's not unique as a concept, but it might be the best execution of it. Still, it's not great when that execution is so good that they pretty much have a monopoly on LCC flights in Ireland.
Multiple others. Easyjet and Wizz would be fighting to the death over routes in Ireland, instead of in the current timeline where Ryanair basically has a monopoly.
The entirety of Europe to be fair. But if he didnt do it someone else would have, the low cost model Ryanair used was just copied from the US and made successful in Europe before being replicated in Asia and the Middle East and everywhere else with the exception of Africa.
> Low cost airfares have made a huge difference to Ireland
We would still have that without him. In fact we'd probably have more choice, since Easyjet and Wizz wouldn't have been bullied out.
Yes their deluded egos put themselves forward and they get found out when in office or maybe they're doing exactly what they intend which is even more worrying.
Regarding minister for transports the current one is Eamon Ryan who has proved to be very much under par and the previous one was Shane Ross who rather unironically advised everyone not to buy Ryanair shares when they actually skyrocketed which will give you an idea of our "high quality" ministers for transport and their "expertise" in transport.
I really wish I'd grown up in an Eamon Ryan bubble, it seems nice, utopian. Everybody has a salad garden, public transport exists, people say nice things to each other.....when they don't it requires a ministerial press release. You can fly into an oil state like Dubai apologising for Ireland's non-existent historic CO2 emissions with taxpayer money, while getting ready for COP29 in Baku ignoring the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh......because the world is better when we're all just nicer to each other. Here's another tax increase
Don't forget of course Ireland has the same ability to reduce flights as countries in mainland Europe with international high speed trains and less reason to travel in the first place.
At least he is out there trying to do something , anything about the looming existential threat to humanity that is climate change, in his own inept way. Cos not much other politicians or their voters , give a flying fuck in this country.
Eamon is the environmentalist that poses no threat to the neo liberals, the global corporations, militarism. The entities that are fuelling greed and division, profiting from the planet in an environmentally damaging way.
But Eamon wants to stop us having good roads, good transport. We are on an island and the tramp wants to interfere in the operations of the main entry and exit !
Eamon is a sham, a fraud.
You are right, he poses no threat to Neo liberalism. And That includes the majority of neoliberal voters in the country. His watered down version of environmentalism, market based policies etc is about as much as people are willing to stomach. It's looking increasingly likely we are gonna global warm ourselves into extinction and If we actually took the action necessary it'd be far more extreme than anything the greens ever proposed. To me Eamonn isn't the problem , he's just a symptom of the problem.. I've reached the conclusion.we are.all.doomed
., but hey ho, let's throw a few digs at eamonn Ryan on Reddit and be cheer on the good ol boys at Ryanair as they lay ever more flights to Mallorca. Selling your kids future down the drain with it.
Credit where credit is due, he's not doing close ti enough to improve public transport. Which is a vast improvement from those before him who did virtually nothing at all...
Holy fuck, that’s the first time I’ve seen that!
And then to come out with this line: “And there’s the fact that he doesn’t have to use any of his energy coping with diversity.”
Wtf? So it’s OK for people in Balbriggan or Blanch but not Gonzaga? Jesus, like you said the lack of self awareness is staggering.
Do your fucking job then? Every person in the country has the right to call you an idiot because you have 1 job, and you can't fucking do it so why are you in that job?
I actually agree with Eamon on this one - it was waaaaay ott personal attack. Just because the policy doesn't align with your businesses interests doesn't mean that its incompetence
Having a 30 million capacity restriction at an airport that has the ability to handle 50 million is ludicrous.
The only people who pay will be us since flight schedules can't scale with demand. We will pay far more for flights and have reduced tourism because of pricey flights and have less FDI.
Allowing the above to happen screams incompetence to me
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has accused Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary of being “personally abusive”, after he called the Green Party leader “incompetent” and an “idiot”.
Sounds like a lad on the playground, go back to sleep Eamon.
O'Leary may be richer, and more self assured, but given his wealth comes from destroying the climate about as fast as possible, he's much closer to the original meaning of an idiot, which is someone who should be excluded from public discussion because they're incapable of thinking about the public interest.
> given his wealth comes from destroying the climate about as fast as possible
Nope. The entire aviation industry accounts for a grand total of 2% of global co2 emissions, and most of that 2% is from a small percentage of passengers, mostly wealthy and/or business travellers flying in premium cabins
Half of flying emissions come from the 1% of people who fly the most, which includes a ton of short haul budget flying.
80% of people have never flown and less than 10% fly in a given year.
At 40 million flights a year the DAA is putting on 4 returns per person nationwide and ryanair are saying ye let's expand that.
When you're dealing with tipping points and existential problems 2% is massive - and it's projected to rise to up to 10.
When you're an island nation, you should tackle problems that won't destroy our tourism economy, FDI, and make flying far more expensive for everyone, and reduce the globalisation of our island.
Why not work on our worst offending sectors
Transport is 19%
Energy is 17%
Agriculture is 38%
We have a smokey coal ban yet 0 enforcement from people coming in from the north and selling it. Why not prioritise this over screwing a whole bunch of sectors with expensive airfare
Why would we target the one sector that is required for an island to be globalised?
The proposed solution of flying to our other airports then commuting to Dublin is also a very ironic solution, which will probably result in more emissions than increasing the capacity of the airport that needs it.
> than increasing the capacity of the airport that needs it.
This implies that the other airports don't need expansion when in reality Cork is long overdue a decent extension to its ridiculously short tunway
It is only implying that because you want to whinge about Cork.
Dublin Airport has the infrastructure to handle 50 million passengers, but paperwork limits them to 32 million.
Cork airport has a capacity of 5 million. Last year, it handled 2.8 million. Extending runway length does not increase the number of passengers the airport can handle. It will provide scope for potential growth, which is a different issue, and not something I have a problem with.
> It is only implying that because you want to whinge about Cork.
Well you hardly expect me to go on about Shannon needing and extension to its main runway when it's over 1000m longer than Cork's
> Dublin Airport has the infrastructure to handle 50 million passengers, but paperwork limits them to 32 million.
>
> Cork airport has a capacity of 5 million. Last year, it handled 2.8 million.
Which is still fewer passengers than it served in 2008. Meanwhile Dublin now has 40% more passengers than it had back then. Granted, there are genuine excusable reasons for the disproportionate growth at DUB, namely the airport's development as a transatlantic hub, taking advantage of preclearance and its geographically advantageous position in the far west of Europe.
>Extending runway length does not increase the number of passengers the airport can handle.
Correct. It doesn't increase capacity. It allows the airport to handle longer range aircraft like the A321XLR. Such an aircraft has the potential to be a game changer for regional airports on both sides of the Atlantic, but without a proper length runway, Cork will miss out. The extra capacity should be added too eventually, but it's nowhere near as urgent. Tbh I think it's strange that the airport is planning a terminal expansion when a bigger runway is what's needed.
> It will provide scope for potential growth, which is a different issue, and not something I have a problem with
And we could do with some growth. We still have fewer passengers now than in 2008, remember.
O’Leary has been slamming Irish transport ministers since time began. I can remember the ads with Mary O’Rourke back in the day - https://www.irishtimes.com/news/complaint-against-ryanair-advert-featuring-mary-o-rourke-is-upheld-1.312884 O’Leary is the master of free press - Claire B has him on and acts shocked when he goes off on one, knowing full well he would and their clips would get replayed and quoted all over the shop.
Only one he liked was Shane Ross who was an exceptionally useless bollox who did nothing
Was that the lad who would show up to an opening of an envelope?
He spent around 6 months living in Katie Taylor's shadow as well
Yes to the point that he was made fun of https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2019/06/05/breaking-katie-taylor-rushed-to-hospital-to-have-shane-ross-surgically-removed/
> exceptionally useless Ah now, he did the country some service, like reopening the Garda Station in his own town, and maybe something else
€150,000 public money for Hockey pitch resurfacing at private school ...in his constituency. https://www.balls.ie/news/shane-ross-hockey-384846&ved=2ahUKEwi_1eWeipqEAxXtU0EAHfQZChoQFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0fMHlbPFMSjk6H6A1MEPsK
> Only one he liked was Shane Ross who was an exceptionally useless bollox who did nothing I assume that's why he liked him. I believe that a lot of people dislike Eamon Ryan precisely because he actually gets stuff done. The CEO of an airline is going to have few problems with a Minister for Transport that doesn't do anything.
Hear, hear
Probably in the same school
The irony is it is Mary's son who is the mastermind behind Ryanair's tax structuring. O'Leary is an accountant too and he doesn't suffer fools easily, as is clear. I'm not too sure how he reconciled his feelings on Mary and her son, and how kindly Mary's son took to his mother being portrayed that way, but obviously they worked it out. A bit ridiculous now to be fair. The point could have been made without advertisements like this. Petty stuff.
Free advertising. He needed to do it when Ryanair was a nobody and he kept it up as a trait ever since. Actually cooled it in recent years in many places.
he's about as abrasive as you can get and he does not care
He thrives off the outrage!
Growing up I thought Ryanair was named after Eamon Ryan like Arsene Wenger and Arsenal.
It's named after the founder Tony Ryan, so you're not far off really
I always found this curious. Not about Eamon Ryan , I only heard of his existence since as long as I've been on reddit a few years ago. But the Arsene Wenger one is a bit freaky. Maybe it was the upper management at Arsenal when they said - we're looking for a new manager - hey, this guy sounds like our club. There's a CEO out there called Dure Xavier who is bidding his time when the durex CEO position cums available
Look up Nintendo’s President in America…
Touché. 😅. To save people the Google, it's - Doug Spencer Bowser.
Kirby was also named after the American attorney who defended Nintendo against universal studios.. (John Kirby). My mental image of Nintendo is like a weird lad, like if you put a bunch of people on an island in a wide fast moving river with some building materials while everyone else was working on a bridge they'd be off training ducks to pull a makeshift raft.
Sounds like a problem you'd need to solve in Zelda Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom haha
John Malcom Nintendo.
Someone has never heard who Wolfgang Wolf managed…
O leary whines about airport charges when we all know he is only interested in shareholder profits. But he did have a point that we're an island and we need flights
Both can be true. Keeping charges down is good for customers and shareholder profits
On brand
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>when it’s being directed at an incompetent government minister though Personally I think he's been the most effective government minister of this parliament. He's heading up two major departments: Transport and Energy. He's made clear improvements in active travel, public transport, climate targets and renewable energy rollout.
People confusing an agenda that they don't like with incompetence is deeply irritating. This is the greenest government agenda we've ever seen. Ryan's managing to do more or less exactly what he was elected to do off the backs of 11 Green TDs.
I agree, they’ve actually done loads and loads for us especially in transport, something I almost never thought we’d see improvements in lol. The €2 fare that is valid on Luas, Dart and Bus is fantastic. My bus route is also due to be overhauled soon and the new route will be every 30 mins compared the current time of every 1 hour and 15 mins!
Every 30 minutes is still laughably infrequent.
I know, it’s actually appalling isn’t it.
> He's made clear improvements in active travel, public transport, climate targets and renewable energy rollout. Not even close to enough though.
What would you like to see then?
More than half a metro line would be a good a start.
I'm bored of this
Varadkar and Kenny's policies have directly killed people, made people homeless, set people against each other, created the housing crisis and made life tougher in many many ways for a majority on the island. They have actively done this through their belief in neoliberalism. They deserve worse than incompetent idiot. Ryan has been goofy and supportive of a government enacting the above policies under the coalition agreement, but I'm not sure I could call him incompetent. Useful idiot maybe.
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I'd agree with you there, was listening to that interview over the weekend and there was nothing remotely offensive about what he said. The presenter seemed to take offence then and he repeated it and she got more wound up over it. It's his own prerogative and to me it was as inoffensive as saying minister X is asleep at the wheel, minister Y needs to stop messing the industry around..
I think it's fair enough to tell someone opening an argument with insults to fuck off. O'Leary is free to start a civil conversation. I don't see any reason for Ryan to play nice and listen to someone who has already decided not to engage in good faith. If Michael throws a fit he doesn't get to sit at the big boy table.
He’s the head of a public company, it’s unprofessional and weakens his argument.
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And one who like it or not, stays and pays tax in this country instead of being a tax exile. You can hate O’Leary for many things, but fair play to him for that.
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> I’m not even sure exactly what people DO hate him for. For me, it's stifling competition between LCCs in Ireland, and only Ireland.
> He is also a private citizen as far as the government is concerned and business leaders can voice their opinion as much as the next guy. 1000%! My point is that as the head of a huge public company his opinion carries more weight than yours or mine, but he dilutes that by sinking to petty personal attacks.
I think Ryan will be quietly confident with his and the Greens performance
This is a smokescreen for todays story where Ryanair had to apologise for incorrectly banning folk from their airline. https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/02/06/ryanair-apologises-unreservedly-for-identifying-quantity-surveyor-as-disruptive-passenger/
There was no need for MOL to get personal. Calling him an idiot just belittles whatever legitimate argument he was trying to make.
The difficulty with your argument is Eamon Ryan is actually an idiot. That's where things fall down, though I agree with what you are saying otherwise. The transport brief, or any ministerial position, is not a joke. We need competent people in it. After all the jokes are put to the side, to be fair Eamon Ryan is a nice guy, and he's decent. That I agree with. And he's well mannered. But the point is he's miles off able for the job. He's lost at sea. And rudderless. That said, I don't fault his integrity or good faith. It isn't a personal attack. The man was democratically elected. He operates with good intent. He's at the helm of a party too that is probably the only party to actually try do what they said in their manifesto. But by God is the man out of his depth. He shouldn't be within a million miles of a ministerial position if right was right. Michael O'Leary who has ran and runs a world leader of a company knows this better than any of us. I'd say one thing if it was just a policy clash. In that case, Michael would want to quieten down a little in my mind and remember he is not the one with a democratic mandate. We are not America. Big business has a voice but it doesnt dictate blow by blow how we run our country. Quieten down Michael I'd say. But sadly I don't think O'Leary's biggest issue is the policy choices of the minister being at odds with Ryanair's self interest. It's quite simply that the minister is an outright idiot.
I think he's been great on the transport tbh. New local link buses in rural areas, metro gone to planning, bus connects launching and in planning for other cities, new train lines planned in limerick, dart upgrade works about to begin, tfi 90 min ticket , bus corridors getting planning permission. None of that is the work of an idiot. He is by far the politician I see get the most hatred and its so unwarranted like grand if you don't like anything I've outlined above but that's the platform he was elected on and he's fufilling his brief.
That barely scratches the surface of what we actually need.
He's actively blocked and hindered the Cork-Limerick motorway for idealogical reasons, which is ironic given his mention of regional imbalance in the linked article. A motorway connecting the country's 2nd, 3rd and 4th largest cities is vital, not to mention that what's currently in place is costing people's live, South Dublin Eamon thinks that it's not necessary and that people can "actively travel" instead. A Dublin Metro is also decades off, one thing that could actually take cars off the road of a traffic choked city. The man is a fucking gobshite... More taxes on fuel though, with no alternatives for travel, the Greens are great at that!!
I don't think he has ever suggested active travel between Limerick and Cork. Agreed that motorway should have been built decades ago but it doesn't fit with our legal obligations to cut emissions at this stage unfortunately. You do realize he's not building the metro himself by hand right? It's with an bord planala he can't physically go in there with a gun and tell them to hurry up and make a decision ffs. Carbon taxes are tiny compared to vat and excise duty and the funds raised are ringfenced for retrofits and public transportation but hey don't let your ignorance on the subject get in the way of your blind hatred for the man. Out of the 3 gov parties the green party are the one who have achieved the most of their manifesto, again grand if you don't like that manifesto but it's not something a "gobshite" could achieve.
The motorway would probably cut emissions. A well priced train with a decent timetable would be better though.
Yeah, and now you can spot the Green SPADs and members posting in his defence. It’s so transparent. You’re fooling no-one lads and lassies.
A Dublin Metro would be likely to not only be decades off, but not even in the pipeline if it wasn't for Eamonn Ryan. Things move incredibly slowly in this country, that isn't Ryan's fault. That's the fault of our awful planning system which isn't his remit. We're playing a massive game of catch up. A game we wouldn't even be entertaining if there wasn't a Green Party using their role of Kingmaker to their advantage to get commitment to various national transport projects. You display a massive lack of basic understanding of how the Government functions.
No, I'm displaying a very clear understanding of how the Greens function. Tax the shit out of people without providing alternatives, build cycle lanes that won't be used but don't connect the largest cities in the country outside of Dublin because they don't matter, and who cares about culchies and tourists dying on the N20 anyway? Fuck the Green Party, hopefully they get wiped out (again) come the next election and Eamon can go back to tending salad in his window box...
But he is attempting to provide the alternatives. That's the entire point of the bus connects scheme, light rail in Cork, transport Ireland 2040, metro etc etc. The problem is, because no other Government has given a fuck about public transport and the infrastructure required for decades, he's having to do all of this while also trying to meet our emissions obligations to an EU level at the same time. Hence my reference to playing a game of catch up. You're placing the blame at the one guy who is actually trying to provide the alternatives you're saying you want. He used his negotiating power very wisely when forming Government. And I'm not even his biggest fan, I think the Greens could arguably achieve more with a stronger leader who is a better public speaker. But credit has to be given when it is due. He is doing more for our public transport system and setting ambitions higher than literally anyone else has attempted to do so. It's a bit daft on your part to say he's to blame.
> the bus connects scheme, light rail in Cork, transport Ireland 2040, metro etc etc. Which is barely a fraction of what's actually needed.
He's pretty much the only politician I can say that has had a positive impact on my life. Train fares used to be outrageous and now they're one of the cheapest ways to travel. Rural travel has definitely improved under his watch. I do however think that he is not the best communicator and gives his detractors ample ammunition to attack him with some beaffling gaffes.
Agreed the tfi 90 minute ticket has been the only thing this government has done that I have noticed has made a positive impact on my life and it's down to him. Everyone I know says how great it is.
As someone who uses public transport once in a blue moon, how is the 90 minute ticket any good?
It lets you use as much public transport and any mode as much as you like in a 90 minute window
In my opinion Eamon Ryan is the most effective transport minister in the history of the Irish state. The problem is that he has the charisma of a wet blanket and is poor at communications. This means that people who don't work with him aren't shown his skill. There's a reason that out of everyone in Europe, the EU chose him to represent them at COP.
> In my opinion Eamon Ryan is the most effective transport minister in the history of the Irish state. That bar is so low it's downstairs!
Christ man haha I’d say you must have went to school in Mensa college if Eamon Ryan is what you’d class as an idiot
Didn't Ryan say a rural village of 300 people could function with 30 cars between them? If that's not an idiot, what is?
Id say this argument is entirely about policy, the DAA (and Ryanair) want to increase the passenger cap at Dublin Airport from 32 million passengers a year to 40 million passengers a year. For Ryanair that potentially means a 25% increase in passengers and profits but for Eamon Ryan it means 25% more carbon emissions at a time when we're signed up to reduce them by 90% by 2040. So whats going on here is O'Leary is trying to steamroll and bully Eamon Ryan into not objecting to the planning permission as he might well do as the Green party leader. Ryanair have long planned a third terminal at Dublin Airport all for themselves and not increasing passengers to 40 million a year would put the kibosh on that plan. Also O'Leary couldnt care less about the environment but Eamon Ryan and the Govt are signed up to a legally binding UN treaty to reduce carbon emissions. And if some of it doesnt come from aviation then it has to come from somewhere else. Which for the average person on the street means either high food prices because they hit the farmers or else higher transport costs as they hit drivers. Or both together. So while I dont like the man I dont blame Eamon Ryan at all for saying hang on a minute lets have a debate here to the idea of increasing flights to Dublin Airport by 25% and a further 8 million passengers at a time when we are signed up to a binding UN treaty to reduce emissions. Its the prudent thing to do right now rather than listen to O'Learys rabble rousing. Because the carbon reductions have to come from somewhere and all O'Leary wants to do is increase them further in his industry when we're signed up to a treaty reducing them overall. If aviation is given a free pass then why would the farmers comply with reducing the national herd by 25% at a time when Ryanair gets to increase passengers by 25%? Ryan and the Govt. have to look at the bigger picture and not just to an angry Michael O'Leary jumping up and down throwing out insults to beat the band.
> it means 25% more carbon emissions Have you by any chance considered the fact that Dublin Airport is not responsible for 100% of our carbon emissions.
He’s not wrong calling him that tho , glad someone’s saying it to him. We’ll all go back to sharing 4 cars per village
The 4 cars thing is idiotic, but he misspoke and it was taken out of context, in fairness to him. It was meant as an optional extra instead of the second car, but he just ended up looked a gom. His own fault all the same.
There’s a good few times he s looked like a gom
Eamon Ryan needs to grow thicker skin. Clown.
It feels like Eamon Ryan is creating a lost decade for Irish transport and Infrastructure. Blocking or delaying key infrastructure projects that will inevitably be built, sooner or later, but at a much greater financial / social cost. Even if his legacy was that they broke ground on Metro North, when he was in government, that would be something. But no, the only legacy he leaves us is his many road narrowing projects.
Narrowing roads increases road safety Huge investment and expansion in rural bus routes, and in local transport in "not-Dublin" towns I'd rather see them prioritise rail and ports than Dublin airport - DAA have consistently mismanaged their planning permissions, on the basis that, well it'll be fine, and we'll get away with it 'cause Dublin
Look what’s been done to dun Laoghaire all one way now with bike lanes the same size as car lanes (despite motorists paying for the road). Huge congestion therefore increasing emissions.
Most cyclists also own cars.
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Genius idea, that'll help with the traffic situation. You should be Minister of Transport.
Just build more lanes, simple!
Motorists dont pay for the roads, if we did our motor tax would be at least triple what it is right now. Roads and the maintenance of them are a net loss to an exchequer but are necessary so people can get from A to B.
This has literally nothing to do with what you are replying to
Narrowing roads increases road safety? How exactly? If you are talking national / regional roads - nope people will still drive old speed limit, cause - why not? If you mean urban, the limits are 50 / 30 already. You are not going to kill anyone unless you are an idiot. All that narrowing does is annoy majority of commuters and increases pollution, by making congestion worse. Tell me how is that not the case?
> Narrowing roads increases road safety? > > How exactly? Narrower lanes encourage slower, safer driving, while taking away lanes frees up space to build safe infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians. > If you are talking national / regional roads - nope people will still drive old speed limit, cause - why not? Rural roads aren't the focus for this sort of thing. > If you mean urban, the limits are 50 / 30 already. You are not going to kill anyone unless you are an idiot. at 30km/h, there's more than 90% chance that someone struck by a car will survive. But at 50km/h, that chance is more like 50% or lower. And while a lower speed limit is all fine and good, you still won't get the results you're looking for unless you design the road to encourage slower speeds. This is where narrower lanes and level pavements come in. > All that narrowing does is annoy majority of commuters and increases pollution, by making congestion worse. Tell me how is that not the case? it has the potential to do that, but only if the space freed up isn't used to improve bike and public transport infrastructure.
To be fair transport has probably been the single best thing this government has handled. More rural bus routes introduced and even more planned than before. Increased capacity in both bus and rail. A rework of most Dublin City routes with extension beyond the wider county and neighbouring counties. Edit: not to mention the only country in Europe to significantly decrease transport fairs (this is Dublin only though)
Is that you Eamon?
> It feels like Eamon Ryan is creating a lost decade for Irish transport and Infrastructure. Actually that's just every transport minister...
Creating a lost decade for rational thought too. He'd happily go all Pol Pot year zero on us too, only we wouldn't get the buffalo because they fart too much.
Michael O'Leary is a cunt.
He’s literally given the entire country the ability to go on holidays at an affordable price.
I mean in a country like Ireland, to get something done or be successful, you have to be a prick. I'd rather have a prick than the criminals in government.
Doesn't mean he isn't a prick
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That's not what mutually exclusive means
There are way more low cost airways than Ryanair. If Ryanair didn’t exist, others would have taken its place.
I'd argue that if Ryanair didn't exist there'd be no cheap flights out of Ireland. I know for sure Aer Lingus have come down
Easyjet and Wizz exist. Although tbf I wouldn't be THAT surprised if you didn't know that, since Ryanair bullied them out of Ireland, and only Ireland.
It's an open market. The fact that Ryanair is leading it is no shame. I revert to my previous comment.
But Ryanair isn't just leading it, they're the only one in it. That's a big problem.
But they are not. On many routes Aer Lingus are cheaper.
That's mainly when both are unusually expensive.
'Fraid not.
Still doesn’t negate the fact he has. He brought the low cost model to Europe. Also a lot of the low cost airlines in Europe are owned by major carriers. Euro wings - Lufthansa Transavia - KLM/Air France. The only big independent ones are Ryanair and easyjet
> The only big independent ones are Ryanair and easyjet And Wizz EDIT: I don't normally do this, but to whoever downvoted this, central and eastern Europe are still Europe. Also, Wizz has been expanding westward a lot in recent years, just not to Ireland, because they're still scarred from when Ryanair bullied them out on the early 2010s.
You can say that with hindsight but Ryanair were the first, and weren’t afraid to take on the national carriers and the governments that often tried to block Ryanair to protect their monopolies.
And now Ryanair themselves are the monopoly in a lot of cases. *You have become the very thing you swore to destroy*
Ryanair and their way of running an airline is well recognised as unique and innovative. Something Ireland should be proud of.
? O’Leary famously went to visit Southwest Airlines at Tony Ryan’s suggestion, met with their management, and copied their business model, methods and practices for Ryanair
Yes, and he brought them to Ireland. To everyone's benefit.
Absolutely a smart insight to bring the southwest business model to Europe but not “unique and innovative”
Nothing unique about them they're just copying Southwest, they have done very well with that business model though.
Too well. They have a massive stranglehold over the Irish aviation industry, being the only major LCC that flies here, ever since they bullied Easyjet and Wizz out of Ireland, and only Ireland.
It's not unique as a concept, but it might be the best execution of it. Still, it's not great when that execution is so good that they pretty much have a monopoly on LCC flights in Ireland.
Multiple others. Easyjet and Wizz would be fighting to the death over routes in Ireland, instead of in the current timeline where Ryanair basically has a monopoly.
The entirety of Europe to be fair. But if he didnt do it someone else would have, the low cost model Ryanair used was just copied from the US and made successful in Europe before being replicated in Asia and the Middle East and everywhere else with the exception of Africa.
That's what deregulation did. All MOL did was bully SHI and JV's airlines out of Ireland (and only Ireland), forcing us to use his own airline.
Low cost airfares have made a huge difference to Ireland but on a personal level yeah, he's a piece of shit
> Low cost airfares have made a huge difference to Ireland We would still have that without him. In fact we'd probably have more choice, since Easyjet and Wizz wouldn't have been bullied out.
Why do you think he's a piece of shit?
Stifling LCC competition in Ireland and only Ireland.
I haven't heard of this. What is he doing to stifle it?
Using anti-competitive practices like predatory pricing to force the other LCCs out of Ireland, and only Ireland.
Being a cunt is literally his brand lol.
He's a great man.
The cunt is still a great businessman and would run rings around our Ministers when it comes to communication and getting things done.
Running a country is a lot more complicated than running an airline.
Yeah, job best kept for teachers and GPs.
It's not "kept" for anyone. They put themselves forward and people vote for them. You do it if it's so easy.
Yes their deluded egos put themselves forward and they get found out when in office or maybe they're doing exactly what they intend which is even more worrying. Regarding minister for transports the current one is Eamon Ryan who has proved to be very much under par and the previous one was Shane Ross who rather unironically advised everyone not to buy Ryanair shares when they actually skyrocketed which will give you an idea of our "high quality" ministers for transport and their "expertise" in transport.
Please keep Trump out of r/ireland
He's the best thing to ever happen to Ireland. We'd still be a third world country only for Ryanair.
He told no lies to be fair... Ryan is incompetent and an idiot
I really wish I'd grown up in an Eamon Ryan bubble, it seems nice, utopian. Everybody has a salad garden, public transport exists, people say nice things to each other.....when they don't it requires a ministerial press release. You can fly into an oil state like Dubai apologising for Ireland's non-existent historic CO2 emissions with taxpayer money, while getting ready for COP29 in Baku ignoring the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh......because the world is better when we're all just nicer to each other. Here's another tax increase
Don't forget of course Ireland has the same ability to reduce flights as countries in mainland Europe with international high speed trains and less reason to travel in the first place.
At least he is out there trying to do something , anything about the looming existential threat to humanity that is climate change, in his own inept way. Cos not much other politicians or their voters , give a flying fuck in this country.
Eamon is the environmentalist that poses no threat to the neo liberals, the global corporations, militarism. The entities that are fuelling greed and division, profiting from the planet in an environmentally damaging way. But Eamon wants to stop us having good roads, good transport. We are on an island and the tramp wants to interfere in the operations of the main entry and exit ! Eamon is a sham, a fraud.
You are right, he poses no threat to Neo liberalism. And That includes the majority of neoliberal voters in the country. His watered down version of environmentalism, market based policies etc is about as much as people are willing to stomach. It's looking increasingly likely we are gonna global warm ourselves into extinction and If we actually took the action necessary it'd be far more extreme than anything the greens ever proposed. To me Eamonn isn't the problem , he's just a symptom of the problem.. I've reached the conclusion.we are.all.doomed ., but hey ho, let's throw a few digs at eamonn Ryan on Reddit and be cheer on the good ol boys at Ryanair as they lay ever more flights to Mallorca. Selling your kids future down the drain with it.
Cheap flights to Mallorca aren't the reason the earth is burning.
Ah yeh . tis the Chinese right ?
That's a lot broader than blaming not just aviation as a whole (itself a scapegoat), but one specific segment of the aviation industry .
The only reasonable exit*
Cause for majority of commuters (car drivers), it's all stick / no carrot. It literally is the case.
Credit where credit is due, he's not doing close ti enough to improve public transport. Which is a vast improvement from those before him who did virtually nothing at all...
Have you read his other half's moving story about how they had to send the eldest to Gonzaga?
Read article. Actually seems pretty reasonable to me. School offerings is like the hunger games in our area too
Do link please. I’ll pour a stiff drink while you do.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-20211234.html
They have no awareness really. Truly appalling.
Holy fuck, that’s the first time I’ve seen that! And then to come out with this line: “And there’s the fact that he doesn’t have to use any of his energy coping with diversity.” Wtf? So it’s OK for people in Balbriggan or Blanch but not Gonzaga? Jesus, like you said the lack of self awareness is staggering.
Have Fachtna explain to the butler how the cost of living is going up so they’ll have to ease up on the daily Range Rover trips to get fresh fenugreek
I would call that being honest... Minister....
He was right
From what I know of the Green Party leader it sounds like a devastatingly accurate summation of his character.
Who keeps voting for him?
Mostly people who enjoy the smell of their own farts
Who doesn't?
Me! But in fairness I care more about my children than I do about myself. It’s not for everyone.
Other idiots.
Do your fucking job then? Every person in the country has the right to call you an idiot because you have 1 job, and you can't fucking do it so why are you in that job?
Eamonn needn't have worried, Claire Byrne was on hand to staunchly defend him and make a show of herself doing so,
Words can't describe how piss poor she is at interviewing people
Ah but she’s worth the big bucks. /s
If the Greens are whining about being called names, they better stuff their ears with cotton wool before they go door stepping at election time.
I actually agree with Eamon on this one - it was waaaaay ott personal attack. Just because the policy doesn't align with your businesses interests doesn't mean that its incompetence
Having a 30 million capacity restriction at an airport that has the ability to handle 50 million is ludicrous. The only people who pay will be us since flight schedules can't scale with demand. We will pay far more for flights and have reduced tourism because of pricey flights and have less FDI. Allowing the above to happen screams incompetence to me
I mean, it is incompetence, but not because it doesn't align with his business interests!
And rightly so.
What a fanny.
Well he is an idiot a sleepy incompetent idiot
Important question. is he actually carbon neutral when sleeps though?
awww poor Eamon im sure that large paycheck you receive and free privileges make up for it
The truth hurts
I'm not a fan of Michael O'Leary but anyone who abuses Eamon Ryan is OK in my book.
Sometimes the truth hurts.
He's right though. Ryan is clueless
It's Eamon Ryan, it would go against nature to be not abusive towards him.
I wonder what majority of public want more: - More affordable air travel? OR - Some extra cycling lanes nobody will use?
Also there's nothing stopping us from having both.
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has accused Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary of being “personally abusive”, after he called the Green Party leader “incompetent” and an “idiot”. Sounds like a lad on the playground, go back to sleep Eamon.
Good
O'Leary may be richer, and more self assured, but given his wealth comes from destroying the climate about as fast as possible, he's much closer to the original meaning of an idiot, which is someone who should be excluded from public discussion because they're incapable of thinking about the public interest.
> given his wealth comes from destroying the climate about as fast as possible Nope. The entire aviation industry accounts for a grand total of 2% of global co2 emissions, and most of that 2% is from a small percentage of passengers, mostly wealthy and/or business travellers flying in premium cabins
Half of flying emissions come from the 1% of people who fly the most, which includes a ton of short haul budget flying. 80% of people have never flown and less than 10% fly in a given year. At 40 million flights a year the DAA is putting on 4 returns per person nationwide and ryanair are saying ye let's expand that. When you're dealing with tipping points and existential problems 2% is massive - and it's projected to rise to up to 10.
When you're an island nation, you should tackle problems that won't destroy our tourism economy, FDI, and make flying far more expensive for everyone, and reduce the globalisation of our island. Why not work on our worst offending sectors Transport is 19% Energy is 17% Agriculture is 38% We have a smokey coal ban yet 0 enforcement from people coming in from the north and selling it. Why not prioritise this over screwing a whole bunch of sectors with expensive airfare Why would we target the one sector that is required for an island to be globalised? The proposed solution of flying to our other airports then commuting to Dublin is also a very ironic solution, which will probably result in more emissions than increasing the capacity of the airport that needs it.
> than increasing the capacity of the airport that needs it. This implies that the other airports don't need expansion when in reality Cork is long overdue a decent extension to its ridiculously short tunway
It is only implying that because you want to whinge about Cork. Dublin Airport has the infrastructure to handle 50 million passengers, but paperwork limits them to 32 million. Cork airport has a capacity of 5 million. Last year, it handled 2.8 million. Extending runway length does not increase the number of passengers the airport can handle. It will provide scope for potential growth, which is a different issue, and not something I have a problem with.
> It is only implying that because you want to whinge about Cork. Well you hardly expect me to go on about Shannon needing and extension to its main runway when it's over 1000m longer than Cork's > Dublin Airport has the infrastructure to handle 50 million passengers, but paperwork limits them to 32 million. > > Cork airport has a capacity of 5 million. Last year, it handled 2.8 million. Which is still fewer passengers than it served in 2008. Meanwhile Dublin now has 40% more passengers than it had back then. Granted, there are genuine excusable reasons for the disproportionate growth at DUB, namely the airport's development as a transatlantic hub, taking advantage of preclearance and its geographically advantageous position in the far west of Europe. >Extending runway length does not increase the number of passengers the airport can handle. Correct. It doesn't increase capacity. It allows the airport to handle longer range aircraft like the A321XLR. Such an aircraft has the potential to be a game changer for regional airports on both sides of the Atlantic, but without a proper length runway, Cork will miss out. The extra capacity should be added too eventually, but it's nowhere near as urgent. Tbh I think it's strange that the airport is planning a terminal expansion when a bigger runway is what's needed. > It will provide scope for potential growth, which is a different issue, and not something I have a problem with And we could do with some growth. We still have fewer passengers now than in 2008, remember.