Who is Right: O Leary or Coughlan?

dixiefly

Taken at face value, this seems like another example of incompetence on the part of Mary Coughlan. It seems to me as if she should have facilitated this but was she correct to keep out of these negotiations?

I dont know if there is a link to the letters but I read them in the paper and they make good reading.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tanaiste-let-500-airport-jobs-slip-2062792.html


Independent.ie
Tanaiste let 500 airport jobs slip
O'Leary plan thwarted by inaction

By RONALD QUINLAN
Sunday February 14 2010

RYANAIR chief Michael O'Leary has slammed Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, blaming her for the loss of 500 engineering jobs which the low-cost carrier had intended to create at Dublin Airport.

In a move that will be deeply embarrassing for Ms Coughlan, Mr O'Leary has released copies of his correspondence with the Tanaiste on Ryanair's job creation proposals to the Sunday Independent, and pointedly accused her of failing to act upon them.

The letters reveal how Ryanair offered to take over the former SR Technics facility at Dublin Airport and re-employ 500 of the aircraft engineers who worked there before it closed last summer.

In making the offer, Ryanair's only condition was that Ms Coughlan, as Minister for Enterprise, or the IDA would act as intermediary with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) as it negotiated the lease of the former SR Technics hanger.

FULL STORY Page 25

Mr O'Leary's refusal to deal directly with the DAA is understandable given his fraught relationship with the authority on a range of issues, including landing charges.

But while the Ryanair chief's position might be understood, the Tanaiste's refusal to directly intervene will baffle the nation, particularly at the end of a week in which Bank of Scotland (Ireland) announced its decision to close its Irish retail business and make 750 staff redundant. Her inaction will be even harder to take for the 1,135 former SR Technics workers, many of whom are now on the dole.

Explaining the reasons for her refusal to intervene with the DAA in a letter to Mr O'Leary on August 12 last year, Ms Coughlan said while she would do whatever she could to progress the proposals, she didn't believe further progress would be possible without "direct discussion between Ryanair and the DAA".

Last Wednesday, the consequences of the Government's refusal to intercede with the DAA were made clear as Ryanair announced it was opening a new €10m maintenance facility at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport, creating 200 engineering jobs. The opening of a second facility with the creation of a further 300 engineering jobs in another EU country is expected to be announced later this year.

- RONALD QUINLAN

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GSF

500 jobs or an empty warehouse? Which is preferable - is that the question?

Biggins

I'm surprised she didn't help.
Given that O' Leary wanted to start up 500 jobs here, I would have thought some sort of help might have been offered, even at a lower level but there was nothing. Strange.
Is there more to this story from either side that we are not hearing I wonder?

Being honest, I (and many) know O' Leary is no fan of FF and their ways of doing things in a number of areas which he has previously pointed out.
Has he been handed a further PR goal by FF or is it one of his own making (someone in FF might claim that he intended to go elsewhere but used an opportunity to have another go at the FF mafia)?

There is definitely more to this story I feel, than we are hearing.

smellslikeshoes

To be fair to her, O leary is a probably an unsufferable pain in these situations. He is also a master manipulator and I wouldn't take all of this at face value.

After saying that though it does seem like a big fumble from her.

AlekSmart

I`m not an O` Learyphile but in this case he`s a fairly safe bet.

Coughlans BIG problem is that the NEW !,IMPROVED!,INDEPENDENT! etc etc Dublin Airport Authority is nothing of the sort.
It is a creature of the Government and all that was bothering her was M O`L showing it up as just that,by acting as an intermediary.

Mary Coughlan was merely doing what a good Fianna Fail member does best,backing the Party Line to the hilt,come what may.

One thing is becoming clear however and that is just how much Michael O Leary is becoming an embarrassment to the present Government,one which they appear totally unable to refute....

imitation

O leary is good at manipulation, I`ll give him that. Id say when it came down to brass tacks at the talks the engineers could have expected nice big wage cuts and the like, but there wont be any mention of that. Still though, anyway you slice it, Coughlan looks very bad now.

gman2k

In a time of national emergency (let's call it what it is), Coughlan needs to do whatever is necessary regarding unemployment.
It comes across quiet clearly however, that this waste of space (Coughlan) will not do whatever it takes to help create/protect jobs.
Not that I'm a fan of Mick O'Leary, but even an offer of one job should be taken seriously.

Biggins

AlekSmart wrote: »

...One thing is becoming clear however and that is just how much Michael O Leary is becoming an embarrassment to the present Government,one which they appear totally unable to refute....

Its been like that for some time now. I'm just surprised how many times they have actually given him alone (never mind others) the opportunity to point out yet another one of their "errors".
Its just one thing after another...

IrishTonyO

imitation wrote: »

O leary is good at manipulation, I`ll give him that. Id say when it came down to brass tacks at the talks the engineers could have expected nice big wage cuts and the like, but there wont be any mention of that. Still though, anyway you slice it, Coughlan looks very bad now.

The engineers have already lost their jobs, maybe that is why there is no mention of salary cuts, as they don't have any salaries or any jobs!

Joey the lips

Michael o leary is never wrong. Is god and we should all listen to what he says :rolleyes: This is just another publicity stunt. As for michael o leary not talking to daa. Its a complete joke. A bit like the joke when you ring his customer service and ask to speak to someone higher up and before the person hears your side says " I am standing by what my collegue said"

testicle

Here is the correspondance...
http://www.ryanair.com/ie/notices/gops/100214-Irish_Govt_500_jobs-GB

IrishTonyO

The letters seem pretty self explanatory, I just can't believe that the government would let this opportunity go, by not acting as an intermediary!! Especially with a semi state body!

Red_Marauder

I would be a bit suspicious about O'Leary wanting to involve the Government or the IDA with the negotiations. He would have understood that any failure to strike a deal with the DAA would have reflected very badly upon the Government, and therefore, would have put him at a clear advantage in negotiations.

However, Coughlan should have risked a pie in the face botched negotiation. This is 500 Irish jobs which were at stake and she has ended up with pie in her face regardless.

I genuinely despair that at a time of such grave importance for Irish Industry, that this political oaf is our Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Dirk Gently

hard to tell. My gut feeling is always to dismis O Leary as he's just a publicity whore but then again, my gut feeling is aways to dismis coughlan too because, well, because shes Mary Coughlan. Dont be surprised if O Leary had more demands than he's letting on though. Unfortunetly he has a fan base, he's seen as being cool and the right wing kids love him but at the end of the day MOL is all about MOL, his profit and maintaining his cult of personality. He's certainly no shining light for workers nor should he have any imput whatsoever in political debate as his sole interest is just that, his own personal agenda.

I'm going to stick my neck out and assume coughlan had a good reason for not accepting his offer, most likely because of unknown conditions dictated to her by MOL on a range of other issues. No doubt the MOL propaganda machine will bury her but I refuse to believe that even coughlan would be stupid enough to turn down the opportunity to be seen to save 500 jobs unless MOL hit her with a wish list she couldn't match.

Anybody waiting for either side in this one to tell you the full truth will be waiting a long time.

Red_Marauder

clown bag wrote: »

He's certainly no shining light for workers nor should he have any imput whatsoever in political debate as his sole interest is just that, his own personal agenda.

It's not his personal agenda, it's his agenda as CEO of one of the world's biggest airlines, who happen to have their headquarters here in Dublin.

I think that's an agenda we would ignore at our cost.

thebman

AlekSmart wrote: »

Coughlans BIG problem is that the NEW !,IMPROVED!,INDEPENDENT! etc etc Dublin Airport Authority is nothing of the sort.
It is a creature of the Government and all that was bothering her was M O`L showing it up as just that,by acting as an intermediary.

Mary Coughlan was merely doing what a good Fianna Fail member does best,backing the Party Line to the hilt,come what may.

The most likely answer as to why she did this so far in the thread IMO.

Taxipete29

Love him or loathe him MOL does create jobs. If this turns out to be accurate Coughlan has to go. This is just another in a long line of political bungles.

gandalf

At a time when we are haemorrhaging jobs at a dreadful and frightening scale I find it beyond belief that an opportunity like this was botched in this way. I sincerely hope that there is more to this story than what we have seen so far but given FF's and Coughlans past performances I doubt it.

zootroid

The government should be doing all they can do attract investment and create jobs here. They seriously dropped the ball, and I've come to expect nothing less from Coughlan. I have yet to see her do anything constructive.

AARRRGH

If it were American Airlines or Delta offering to employ 500 people in an unused hanger, Coughlan would have jumped on a plane and flown to Florida to get the deal done.

But ah sure, it's just an Irish company, we'll be grand.

What an utterly incompetent out-of-touch-with-reality mongo of a woman.

P. Breathnach

If O'Leary was making a serious proposal, he would be making it to the responsible body: the DAA.

AARRRGH

P. Breathnach wrote: »

If O'Leary was making a serious proposal, he would be making it to the responsible body: the DAA.

He did.

Have you read the letters?

thebman

P. Breathnach wrote: »

If O'Leary was making a serious proposal, he would be making it to the responsible body: the DAA.

True, I think Ryanair wanted incentives from government to locate there but realistically the Minister should have at least heard what those proposals would be.

Even if it did go sour and MOL came out saying it was the Ministers fault, she could have said that she talked to him but that it was unworkable. Now she just looks like she refused to talk to him in the first place and even entertain the idea of 500 jobs being created.

Pete4779

It's likely there is nothing more to this story than what has been published in the newspapers. MoL has a pretty well-observed reputation for straight talking in what he will and won't do.

O'Coughlan's job was to get more employment for citizens. However, she has no skill, qualification or experience to actually do this; the result is obvious: jobs moved. It would have required her to be diplomatic and clever to negotiate a good deal for 500 people between a unionised mess (DAA) and a behemoth of aviation industry.

O'Coughlan, like all government ministers we have, are in positions they are vastly underqualified for. She clearly wanted MoL to sort out/bow down to the DAA and just do a deal. Outsourcing of decision making is prima facie the basis for our current government; I wonder will we also get a managment consulting bill for a few million based on them advising her to respond in such a fashion.

She is an imbecile and incompetent. Ryanair could be BMW, Siemens, NOkia or any other large multinational. The purpose was to get employment for 500 people, not play politics.

Dirk Gently

from the news tonight, it looks like the other 300 jobs are still up for grabs. Looks like this is MOL uping the stakes to bypas DAA. A 200 job stick and a heap of pressure for a 300 job carrot.

I think coughlan should call his bluff and force him to lay out in public the price he has on the 300 jobs.

PeakOutput

P. Breathnach wrote: »

If O'Leary was making a serious proposal, he would be making it to the responsible body: the DAA.

the fact that he just announced a maintenance base in scotland hiring 200 people and is apparently going to open another one which will hire 300 and those two numbers combined add up to this 500 jobs he was going to create in dublin lend credence to the fact that this was a serious proposal

sure oleary has his company at the top of his list of priorities but he does give the goverment ample opportunity to make it worthwhile for him to do things here so that we get the benefits that come with job creation and higher tourism etc

500 mostly high skilled well paid jobs lost, i think someone should work out exactly what the cost of this is to the economy and the exchequer over the lifetime of these jobs and present that to coughlan right before we ask for her resignation

lets low ball its here and say each person paid 10K in tax a year thats 5million in paye alone. add in their extra spending power as a result of not being on the dole and the extra vat income that creates. then add in the savings from not having them on the dole and the figures start to go up pretty quickly

serious serious disgrace

PeakOutput

clown bag wrote: »

I think coughlan should call his bluff and force him to lay out in public the price he has on the 300 jobs.

how is this relevant? its up to the engineers if they take the job for the money on offer, if they would rather stay on the dole fine but job creation is job creation

Dirk Gently

PeakOutput wrote: »

how is this relevant? its up to the engineers if they take the job for the money on offer, if they would rather stay on the dole fine but job creation is job creation

I wasn't talking about the engineers or any particular wage. I was talking about MOL's conditions for the government which he no doubt has. MOL has 300 jobs to offer. What does he want the gov to do in order to locate the jobs here? She should engage with him and tell him to spell out exactly what he wants. Only then can we judge the situation on its merits.

dan_d

Ugh. Both as bad as each other.
Can I just make a correction here. MOL was not going to create 500 engineering jobs. He was/is going to create 500 jobs for technicians and mechanics.And possibly one or two engineering jobs.As an engineer, it's a particularly irritating trait of this country to tar everyone in certain industries with the "engineer" brush, when most of those referred to are not engineers at all. I am not referring directly to people on boards - more to the media, MOL and Mary Coughlan.
Okay so rant over (sorry, I had to say it).
I'm guessing that reading between the lines, there's a lot more to the story than is being made public. I have to wonder why MOL felt he needed Mary Coughlan involved. Are the IDA not enough? And why is he so childish that he won't go cut a deal with the DAA? If it mattered that much, he should have got over it and gone and done a deal. It's as though he's just trying to make an example of both the Gov and the DAA - it's almost intentional.
The way he phrased his letters and the fact that he posted the info on his website just makes him sound like a bully - the deal was to be on his terms and nobody else's. One has to question the terms and conditions of the jobs offered aswell - Ryanair do not have a good reputation as an employer.
As for Mary Coughlan, she should have done all she could to make it happen. 500 jobs on a plate like that should have been her first priority. She is pretty much as bad as him - it's hardly surprising I suppose, given the track record.
I still think there's more to the story that is being told however.

A Dub in Glasgo

AARRRGH wrote: »

If it were American Airlines or Delta offering to employ 500 people in an unused hanger, Coughlan would have jumped on a plane and flown to Florida to get the deal done.

The reason for that is simple, it would invove a nice tax payer funded jolly to the US. A chaffeur driven car across the city to Dublin Airport is less than inviting for the FF clan.

A Dub in Glasgo

P. Breathnach wrote: »

If O'Leary was making a serious proposal, he would be making it to the responsible body: the DAA.

Oh I think RA were being very serious and the West of Scotland has now benefited from that inaction from the Irish Government.

dan_d wrote: »

The way he phrased his letters and the fact that he posted the info on his website just makes him sound like a bully - the deal was to be on his terms and nobody else's. .

the fact that RA are creating the jobs and they have a choice means that it is on their terms.

goose2005

Maybe she wanted all the jobs outsourced to Lifford - have to look after d'constichuency.

zootroid

dan_d wrote: »

Ugh. Both as bad as each other.
Can I just make a correction here. MOL was not going to create 500 engineering jobs. He was/is going to create 500 jobs for technicians and mechanics.And possibly one or two engineering jobs.As an engineer, it's a particularly irritating trait of this country to tar everyone in certain industries with the "engineer" brush, when most of those referred to are not engineers at all. I am not referring directly to people on boards - more to the media, MOL and Mary Coughlan.
Okay so rant over (sorry, I had to say it).
I'm guessing that reading between the lines, there's a lot more to the story than is being made public. I have to wonder why MOL felt he needed Mary Coughlan involved. Are the IDA not enough? And why is he so childish that he won't go cut a deal with the DAA? If it mattered that much, he should have got over it and gone and done a deal. It's as though he's just trying to make an example of both the Gov and the DAA - it's almost intentional.
The way he phrased his letters and the fact that he posted the info on his website just makes him sound like a bully - the deal was to be on his terms and nobody else's. One has to question the terms and conditions of the jobs offered aswell - Ryanair do not have a good reputation as an employer.
As for Mary Coughlan, she should have done all she could to make it happen. 500 jobs on a plate like that should have been her first priority. She is pretty much as bad as him - it's hardly surprising I suppose, given the track record.
I still think there's more to the story that is being told however.

He was the one who was considering investing, putting up Ryanair's money, of course it's going to be on his terms, especially in the economic climate we have now. As a country we should be trying to get as much investment as possible. The whole thing strikes me as MC not having her priorities right. I think she definitely could have done more, at least meet him face to face when she first discovered there was an opportunity to secure investment and create 500 jobs.

ednwireland

goose2005 wrote: »

Maybe she wanted all the jobs outsourced to Lifford - have to look after d'constichuency.

it would be a first :rolleyes:

rightwingdub

Read the correspondence in the Sindo today between Coughlan and O'Leary, I have to say I complete support O'Leary and the sooner Coughlan is exiled to the backbenches the better, Coughlan is completely out of her depth.

Pete4779

dan_d wrote: »

Are the IDA not enough? And why is he so childish that he won't go cut a deal with the DAA? If it mattered that much, he should have got over it and gone and done a deal.

He's not childish, he has ****loads of cash and can call the shots on wherever he decides to invest. The entitlement cultute in Ireland is a cancer. MoL can move wherever he likes; he doesn't NEED to "do a deal". Last time, he was ignore regarding the terminal, regarding Aer Lingus, and regarding the maintenance contracts.

If someone with cash offering jobs keeps turning up and keeps getting slapped in the face by a the DAA or government retards like MC, then you're better going straight to the top, see what happens and if no result or even contact made to get a "deal done", you can go elsewhere. It's exactly what it says on the tin.

Mr.Micro

Is it actually possible to embarrass Coughlan? I don't think so. An absolute buffoon with a skin thicker than an elephants. Cowen hangs on to her because she makes him look competent.

paddyland

Taxipete29 wrote: »

Love him or loathe him MOL does create jobs. If this turns out to be accurate Coughlan has to go. This is just another in a long line of political bungles.

Here lieth the problem. This is just another page in a multi volume encyclopedia of rot and incompetence in the FF party. No matter what they do, no matter how loathsome, how incredibly stupid, you cannot get rid of them. Brian Cowen WILL NOT accept accusations of mistakes, ineptitude, corruption. Nothing is a sackable offence. This is the man who breaks every understanding of democracy, by witholding by-elections for months and months, simply to keep a fingerhold on the little power he has.

Every day that woman sits in office spells further disaster, not just for the country, but for the real lives of individual people who rely on her department for vision for the future, for jobs, for a way out of destitution. How do you get rid of her? Brian Cowen won't do it. We seem to have a very woolly understanding of democracy in this country, and there is no sign of enlightenment coming from any quarter.

97i9y3941

o leary wanted to create jobs,didnt want daa involved because he might end up paying some fat cat over the jobs to sit on his @rse all day and get €100,000 for their "hard work"

Mr.Micro

Fred83 wrote: »

o leary wanted to create jobs,didnt want daa involved because he might end up paying some fat cat over the jobs to sit on his @rse all day and get €100,000 for their "hard work"

now there is a job for Bertie or Coughlan

johnnyskeleton

I suspect that O'Leary's point was that if the DAA wasn't a monopoly he would've taken over the jobs. So he wasn't actually just looking for her to approve the transfer but rather for her to dismantle the whole DAA.

But that's beside the point. Who cares about 500 aircraft engineers when the Tainiste was busy organising 100 new "knowledge economy" jobs in a call centre in dundalk. Engineering is a bit too lower class for the direction that the government has decided to take with the economy.

ednwireland

coughlan said on the radio this morning that ryanair wanted hanger 6 ( currently in use by aer lingus) and that the ida and daa offered to build a new hanger.
(i'm sure there are 2 sides to this story and i'm really not trying to defend coughlan)

there was lots of other stuff, but switched off after that (literally - had to go to work)

edit: i also beleive MOL will do anything to embarass any gov. that he doesnt think is doing things his way,
i just think a lot of ryanair stuff is about column inches for ryanair

bijapos

I agree fully that Coughlan is a waste of space in the job, be Tainaiste for all I care, but give Enterprise and Employment to someone else.

However there is something more to this than meets the eye.
Firstly, why is MOL coming out with this now, why not in August when he was creating jobs if he wants publicity or media pressure to work.
Second, where are the other letters? It's obvious from the three letters on his website that there are more.
Third, why get a minister to do a job (negotiate with DAA) that eitherr you as CEO or one of your execs should be doing. As a small businessman if I want to lease a small unit I deal with the landlord, I don't ask my local TD to do it. Even if I don't like him personally, business is business. If MOL thought he was being shafted, again he could have publicised any negotiations last August.

Coughlan said on RTE news this morning that they offered to build him a hanger, why not take this offer up.

I know two people who worked for SRT (one retired 3 years ago) and both said that the wages being paid in Prestwick are well below the SRT wages here. As I understand it a number of fromer SRT workers applied for the jobs in Prestwick. A business like Ryanair would have a lot of reasons to come/or not come to Ireland, renting the hanger is only one of them.

MOL is very popular amongst a lot of people but only a couple of years ago we were being told to leave the developers alone and give them what they want.."sure they're creating jobs, aren't they"...

Eitherr way, this story is only starting.

A Primal Nut

I may have misread it in another paper, but I think Aer Lingus used the empty hangar instead and created a load of jobs instead of Ryanair - so doesn't really matter.

That said, couldn't they find room for a new hangar?

markpb

bijapos wrote: »

Third, why get a minister to do a job (negotiate with DAA) that eitherr you as CEO or one of your execs should be doing. As a small businessman if I want to lease a small unit I deal with the landlord, I don't ask my local TD to do it.

If you're a big businessman and you contact the government about creating several hundred reasonably well paid jobs, there's a chance you'll get a grant or something similar to help you.

Coughlan said on RTE news this morning that they offered to build him a hanger, why not take this offer up.

Bertie promised to built T2 over a decade ago and it's still not open. Why would MOL have any faith in the government to build a hanger any faster? He could be left hanging in the wind.

I know two people who worked for SRT (one retired 3 years ago) and both said that the wages being paid in Prestwick are well below the SRT wages here

SR is gone. It went out of business because it couldn't compete. What does that tell you about the wages in SR? There's no point comparing the wages being paid in Prestwick to the no wages being paid here. Would your friends rather being employed on lower wages than they used to or be on the dole?

Darsad

MOL obviously went and probably always intended to go with the cheaper option and has chosen his time to release the story to damage the gov and Coughlan and to this end I hope he succeeds THIS WOMAN is an embarrassment !

bonzos

If there was an opportunity to create 500 jobs in Donegal she would not have sat on her arse and done nothing...she is a total disgrace and just another example of an overpaid waster who is full of her own self importance!

thebman

Darsad wrote: »

MOL obviously went and probably always intended to go with the cheaper option and has chosen his time to release the story to damage the gov and Coughlan and to this end I hope he succeeds THIS WOMAN is an embarrassment !

Funnier when you look at the situation in Lisbon where he supported it and everyone said he was just in bed with government and he'd get something after it for supporting it from government.

P. Breathnach

In some respects, O'Leary plays a simple game: attack anybody or anything that can be represented as getting in the way of Ryanair striving to give the lowest fares possible to its customers, and in doing so, get tens of thousands of euros worth of free publicity. In my opinion, O'Leary doesn't care if the attack is fair or unfair. And let's not buy his suggestion that his objective is the delivery of low fares; it is the maximisation of profit, and offering low nominal fares is simply part of the strategy. Engendering free publicity is another strategic line.

Let's get a couple of things straight. He says that does not want to deal with DAA, even though they are the body with whom he should be dealing. He wants political interference, something he has frequently railed against in other contexts. In particular, he wants the government to pressurise Aer Lingus to induce them to give up their occupancy of Hangar 6. Think about that: he wants political pressure put on a competitor airline that is in the private sector.

This is not straight business dealing: this is a high-stakes game of bluff. The fact that the politician he is attacking is one of the less impressive performers in an unimpressive government makes his game easier for him, but it doesn't make it right.

Jaysoose

Lets look past the political posturing etc and the spin, if this move by oleary gets 500 lads off the dole then coughlan should shut the fcuk up and make it happen simple as that. What benefit does not making this happen for the goverment? they stick two fingers up to oleary...for what?

Its pathetic.

jmayo

imitation wrote: »

O leary is good at manipulation, I`ll give him that. Id say when it came down to brass tacks at the talks the engineers could have expected nice big wage cuts and the like, but there wont be any mention of that. Still though, anyway you slice it, Coughlan looks very bad now.

clown bag wrote: »

from the news tonight, it looks like the other 300 jobs are still up for grabs. Looks like this is MOL uping the stakes to bypas DAA. A 200 job stick and a heap of pressure for a 300 job carrot.

I think coughlan should call his bluff and force him to lay out in public the price he has on the 300 jobs.

Why should he come out in public and state any detail.
The government have been telling us that NAMA can't divuldge certain detail becuase pricing etc would need to be confidential to protect the parties.
They drag banking enquiries into the realm of behind clsoed doors since they need to keep things private but now O'Leary should carry out negogiations in public.
A bit rich me thinks.

bijapos wrote: »

I agree fully that Coughlan is a waste of space in the job, be Tainaiste for all I care, but give Enterprise and Employment to someone else.

However there is something more to this than meets the eye.
Firstly, why is MOL coming out with this now, why not in August when he was creating jobs if he wants publicity or media pressure to work.
Second, where are the other letters? It's obvious from the three letters on his website that there are more.
Third, why get a minister to do a job (negotiate with DAA) that eitherr you as CEO or one of your execs should be doing. As a small businessman if I want to lease a small unit I deal with the landlord, I don't ask my local TD to do it. Even if I don't like him personally, business is business. If MOL thought he was being shafted, again he could have publicised any negotiations last August.

Coughlan said on RTE news this morning that they offered to build him a hanger, why not take this offer up.

I know two people who worked for SRT (one retired 3 years ago) and both said that the wages being paid in Prestwick are well below the SRT wages here. As I understand it a number of fromer SRT workers applied for the jobs in Prestwick. A business like Ryanair would have a lot of reasons to come/or not come to Ireland, renting the hanger is only one of them.

MOL is very popular amongst a lot of people but only a couple of years ago we were being told to leave the developers alone and give them what they want.."sure they're creating jobs, aren't they"...

Eitherr way, this story is only starting.

It is bit different you leasing a unit form a landlord and someone willing to set up an enterprise that coudl potentially employ 500 people. :rolleyes:
If Johnny foriegner arrived and said they were willing to set up 500 jobs the f***ers would be falling over themselves to be seen with them.


Why shouldn't O'Leary get a good deal for RA, that is what he is paid to do.
And because he is damm good at it he gets bonuses and share options.
Difference is in the government and the public sector (e.g HSE) people expect to get bonuses even when they don't deliver for their employers i.e. us the taxpayers.

I would loved to have sat in on negogiations between O'Leary and coughlan.
If he can leave the likes of Boeing realing from his deals, he would have had her for breakfast.

SR technics originated in old Team Aer Lingus with a highly unionised pampered workforce. I can recall a number of times Team Aer Lingus being out on strike.
Why shoudl he pay the types of wages that Sr Technics workers had become acustomed to ?
Remember he is the one creating the jobs and there aren't that many of them around these days. :rolleyes: