Fair Play to Michael O'Leary

jetsonx

Now that Ireland is in the financial quagmire is it. I would
like to say thank you and fair play to Michael O'Leary.

At the height of the Celtic Tiger, he was one of the few high profile
people in Ireland at that time who had the b@lls to tell everyone on a repeated basis that Bertie Aherne was doing an abysmal job of leading the country and how right he was.

Now we're paying for it folks. We're paying for Bertie's dithering, we're paying for his consensus politics, we're paying for his "path of least resistance" decision making anytime any a hard decision had to be made.

"Yes" men never make good leaders. Good leadership is about being blunt with the public and making good decisions that stand the test of time. Good leadership is not about telling the public what they want to hear all the time. We see now what a mess this type of leadership can land a country in.

Its a pity Irish people did'nt listen to Michael O'Leary's warnings. I hope Irish people learn from this.

The Orb

A lot of Irish people could see what a balls Bertie and his mob were making of the country, I didn't need Michael O'Leary to tell me. Michael O'Leary is only interested in what is good for Ryanair but at least he stayed here and paid his taxes.

macman2010

Michael O'Leary is a good businessman but he is still also a twat.

There were many, many anti-Bertie, anti-Fianna Fáil and anti-property bubble voices in those days, but they were ignored, marginalised or branded nutjobs or lefties. Bertie told his critics that they should just go and kill themselves for being so negative.

I wonder what's going through his mind now as he sizes up running for president or mayor of Dublin.

The same oul' bollox, I'd say.

wixfjord

macman2010 wrote: »

Michael O'Leary is a good businessman but he is still also a twat.

Nail firmly on head there.

themadchef

macman2010 wrote: »

Michael O'Leary is a good businessman but he is still also a twat.

Give me a savvy twat who makes good financial decisions not just for himself but for the people he serves (shareholders) over a self serving toe rag anyday.

HellFireClub

In fairness to O' Leary, he didn't do anything remarkable at all, all he did was run a business properly, when the vast majority of businesses in Ireland were throwing money at staff and splurging on parties and the likes, O' Leary was telling the staff that they were not allowed to charge their mobiles at work because they were costing the business money when they did. He watched the pennies and the pounds looked after himself, those who did the same are more likely to be still in business.

Compare that attitude to the horrendous PS waste that has been the norm for the last 15 years, throwing money at half baked projects, throwing money at unions for some peace, consultants reports that you could lay down in a line right acorss the country, e-voting machines, PPARS projects, etc, etc, etc...

There you have it I think...

sensibleken

He has nothing but contempt for his staff and his customers!

Loads of people knew berty was doing a shíte job but the only reason he had an objection was for personal gain, not the interests of the country

HellFireClub

sensibleken wrote: »

He has nothing but contempt for his staff and his customers!

Loads of people knew berty was doing a shíte job but the only reason he had an objection was for personal gain, not the interests of the country

O' Leary can be credited with having gotten results. Shareholder capital goes in and profit comes out, so that's a result and he gets to stay in his position.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, we've been p*ssing money at every problem we've had for the last 15 odd years, no results, in fact we've had the opposite of results, despite all the money and success, we now have the entire state bound to huge debt for generations.

sensibleken

HellFireClub wrote: »

O' Leary can be credited with having gotten results. Shareholder capital goes in and profit comes out, so that's a result and he gets to stay in his position.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, we've been p*ssing money at every problem we've had for the last 15 odd years, no results, in fact we've had the opposite of results, despite all the money and success, we now have the entire state bound to huge debt for generations.

I know how businesses work. It does not make O'Leary any less of a cúnt

HellFireClub

sensibleken wrote: »

I know how businesses work. It does not make O'Leary any less of a cúnt

If you don't like O' Leary, there's no point in whinging about it on here, vote with your feet and don't support their business when you buy.

Unfortunately we don't have the same choice when it comes to how the country is being run.

jetsonx

sensibleken wrote: »

Loads of people knew berty was doing a shíte job

Where where they then? From the years 2002 - 2007, I rarely say any high-profile Irish figure on a medium such as Six One News (or for that matter the Nine o'clock news) get up and slate Bertie. M O'L did though.

sensibleken

jetsonx wrote: »

Where where they then? From the years 2002 - 2007, I rarely say any high-profile Irish figure on a medium such as Six One News (or for that matter the Nine o'clock news) get up and slate Bertie. M O'L did though.

pretty much anyone who wasnt in fianna fail (or a voter).

most business men wouldnt make political statements because its not their job. o leary is an egotist who likes getting his picture in the paper, all his statements about bertie that I can recall were about his own business. im not going to spend much time googling them but heres an example

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1010765.shtml

jetsonx

jetsonx wrote: »

Where where they then?

They were kept on the margins, where you'd only notice if you went looking. Like Oireachtas Report, the middle pages of The Irish Times, non-governmental organisations, blogs and boards like this one, an opposition regarded as a pack of moaners. Morgan Kelly, who predicted the crash in 2007, is now a national hero. He struggled to get his writings published and when they were, he was laughed at. Who's laughing now?

Joe Higgins, Bertie's most effective and high-profile tormentor, for god's sake, got no thanks for it from his electorate and he lost his seat in 2007.

Ev84

I like Michael O' Leary. You gotta love his brutal honesty. There's no beating around the bush with him. I find it refreshing compared to the load of bollocks we usually get fed from so many powerful figures.

I might not agree with a lot of his views but I do respect the fact that he's not afraid to express them. It's an attribute that a lot of politicians desperately lack. We need more people with O' Leary's attitude in power in Ireland instead of the usual "lick-arse" people pleaser's. Grow a spine FFS!

Fighting Irish

macman2010 wrote: »

Michael O'Leary is a good businessman but he is still also a twat.

Jealousy is a bitch!
He made it cheap as fook for anyone in ireland to fly anywhere in europe. Fair play to him!

Fighting Irish

sensibleken wrote: »

He's a cúnt who has nothing but contempt for his staff and his customers!

Loads of people knew berty was doing a shíte job but the only reason he had an objection was for personal gain, not the interests of the country

He runs a business not a creche

krudler

sensibleken wrote: »

He has nothing but contempt for his staff and his customers!

Yeah, I much preferred when flights to England cos a few hundred quid, and we got a pillow on the seat.

If you view Ryanair as a bus service with wings it works, its the other passengers that make travelling with them a pain in the balls at times,never had a problem with the airline itself. It costs me more to travel to Dublin to fly to Spain than it does for the flight itself.

mikemac

He complains about government interference and then not only demands zero landing fees but also government subsidies to fly to certain airports such as Charleroi

No stranger to putting the hand out for government money himself and won't do anything about that unless the EU enforces a ruling over it

tipptom

If Bertie Aherh had given Michael o Leary his airport terminal he would have lauded Ahern the same way he lauded the head of the EU when he came over for lisbon 2 and flying him around on ryanair and giving him proper food and not charging him for it and telling us we would be all mad to not vote for it considering all the jobs we would be getting.

orourkeda

sensibleken wrote: »

He's a cúnt who has nothing but contempt for his staff and his customers!

Loads of people knew berty was doing a shíte job but the only reason he had an objection was for personal gain, not the interests of the country

Michael O'Leary isn't a public servant. Therefore his decisions do not need to be taken in the national interest. His only concern is Ryanairs bottom line as it should be considering he's the man in charge.

To berate Michael O'Leary because his decisions are not taken with the best interest of our nation at heart is an irrelevant argument.

Whatever your opinion on him personally is or on how his company does business is one thing but the expectation that his company should put Ireland first is a rather misplaced notion.

orourkeda

tipptom wrote: »

If Bertie Aherh had given Michael o Leary his airport terminal he would have lauded Ahern the same way he lauded the head of the EU when he came over for lisbon 2 and flying him around on ryanair and giving him proper food and not charging him for it and telling us we would be all mad to not vote for it considering all the jobs we would be getting.

Why wouldn't he?

Orando Broom

Deleted User wrote: »

There were many, many anti-Bertie, anti-Fianna Fáil and anti-property bubble voices in those days, but they were ignored, marginalised or branded nutjobs or lefties. Bertie told his critics that they should just go and kill themselves for being so negative.

I wonder what's going through his mind now as he sizes up running for president or mayor of Dublin.

The same oul' bollox, I'd say.

These people were known then as the 'lunatic fringe'. Who'd believe that the processed carboard box in Ashbourne you call an apartment would lose value?

whoopdedoo

the man is a legend, most of what he says/does I would totally agree with, with the exception of lisbon 2.0, I think everybody knew what his rational was for backing it and it didn't work either!

pity the government and the daa insisted on building the terminal 2, can't believe they turned their noses up at o Leary building it with no cost to the state!! that's just criminal

orourkeda

whoopdedoo wrote: »

the man is a legend, most of what he says/does I would totally agree with, with the exception of lisbon 2.0, I think everybody knew what his rational was for backing it and it didn't work either!

pity the government and the daa insisted on building the terminal 2, can't believe they turned their noses up at o Leary building it with no cost to the state!! that's just criminal

At the risk of sounding cynical and my suspicions could be totally misplaced but is there something in this.

kfallon

jetsonx wrote: »

Now that Ireland is in the financial quagmire is it. I would
like to say thank you and fair play to Michael O'Leary.

At the height of the Celtic Tiger, he was one of the few high profile
people in Ireland at that time who had the b@lls to tell everyone on a repeated basis that Bertie Aherne was doing an abysmal job of leading the country and how right he was.

Now we're paying for it folks. We're paying for Bertie's dithering, we're paying for his consensus politics, we're paying for his "path of least resistance" decision making anytime any a hard decision had to be made.

"Yes" men never make good leaders. Good leadership is about being blunt with the public and making good decisions that stand the test of time. Good leadership is not about telling the public what they want to hear all the time. We see now what a mess this type of leadership can land a country in.

Its a pity Irish people did'nt listen to Michael O'Leary's warnings. I hope Irish people learn from this.

Evening Mr O'Leary :pac:

PyeContinental

whoopdedoo wrote: »

the man is a legend, most of what he says/does I would totally agree with, with the exception of lisbon 2.0, I think everybody knew what his rational was for backing it and it didn't work either!

What was his rationale?

COYW

sensibleken wrote: »

He's a cúnt who has nothing but contempt for his staff and his customers!

Contempt for customers? He would be out of business by now, if he did. The fact is that he runs a very tight ship. Play by the T&Cs and you will get the best deal going.

Contempt for staff? I don't hear them on Joe Duffy etc complaining like Aer Lingus. Also, I can tell you that he gives and awful lot of young pilots a start in the airline industry and pays them very well.

If more companies in this country operated like Ryanair, the country would be in far healthier state.

Poor Craythur

I like him. With Ryanair you get what you pay for.

Pal

I love Ryanair.

They're there when I need them and the price is good.
I get what I pay for and I have a choice.

Thanks Michael.

Hank_Jones

I honestly don't see how people can slate the guy,
he's a very good business man and is bringing buckets of money into this country.

His business is paying for your dole no doubt.

Gigiwagga

Op 'jetsonx' is Michael O'Leary !!!!

Alter-Ego

feelingstressed wrote: »

He complains about government interference and then not only demands zero landing fees but also government subsidies to fly to certain airports such as Charleroi

No stranger to putting the hand out for government money himself and won't do anything about that unless the EU enforces a ruling over it

Why shouldn't he apply for subsidies from governments for flying into certain airports? In the case of Charleroi it was an unemployment black-spot that was only used for charter flights until Ryanair came along, creating hundreds of jobs and turning Charleroi into a European hub that several low cost carriers now fly into. Ryanair stood no chance against the government backed flag carriers if they didn't get those deals in smaller airports.

He did very well in copying the business plan of Southwest airlines in the states, by flying into smaller airports outside major cities, and as a result we get cheaper flights for it.

He is a bit of a gobsh1te though.

mfceiling

Last year for my holiday flights to milan for the family

Aer Lingus €1300

Ryanair €450


€850 for me thanks to him.

heybaby

Ok he's not the most likeable of people but Michael O'Leary has to go down as one of the most successful if not the most successful Irish business person of all time. What he has achieved with Ryanair has been nothing short of staggering and all inspite of a series of Fianna Fail led governments who resented his success. O leary was a lone voice in the heady days of the celtic tiger in criticising Bertie and successive ministers for transport who were more concerned with making O'learys life difficult, wasting public money and appointing their own FF people to state run quangos.

O Leary publicly asked why FAS in a time of full employment in this country were still receiving 1billion eusros a year in funding , of course we know now exactly how FAS were distributing all that cash now. You can rest assured if O"leary was in government, with his zero tolerance for passifying the unions and his forensic approach to costs we wouldnt be in the fiscal mess we are in now.

Again you might not always agree with his customer service policy and he may not come from the george clooney school of charm but my god does he know how to run a behemoth of a multinational that has become one of the biggest airlines in the world. He should be applauded, its only a crying shame that our flawed political system cant attract a man with his experience amd talent into dail eireann.

PK2008

macman2010 wrote: »

Michael O'Leary is a good businessman but he is still also a twat.

Better than being a failure and a twat


(I guess)

Dionysus

PK2008 wrote: »

Better than being a failure and a twat

But worse than being a success and a sound fella.

For anybody who'd like to overstate Ryanair's contribution to the state of Ireland, read this:
Ryanair is paying no tax - despite a record €3billion sales (6 June 2010)

Dionysus

heybaby wrote: »

Ok he's not the most likeable of people but Michael O'Leary has to go down as one of the most successful if not the most successful Irish business person of all time. What he has achieved with Ryanair has been nothing short of staggering and all inspite of a series of Fianna Fail led governments who resented his success.

Ara, there were so many "successful" people in this country not so long ago I'd be very circumspect about lauding anybody as successful anymore. If recent events have taught us something it's that "success", even if it's real, is fleeting.

We should all be more aware now that when it comes to "success" all is not what it seems.

maringo

Ryanair seems to be the only airline where cabin staff have to pay for their training - they seem to be employed by one of his training agencies (listed on their site) and then kept on the staff for just under a year and let go before the year is up - no wonder the fares are cheap - they seem to use young people as cheap labour - shameful practice and should be investigated.

jetsonx

heybaby wrote: »

O leary was a lone voice in the heady days of the celtic tiger in criticising Bertie and successive ministers for transport who were more concerned with making O'learys life difficult, wasting public money and appointing their own FF people to state run quangos.

O Leary publicly asked why FAS in a time of full employment in this country were still receiving 1billion eusros a year in funding , of course we know now exactly how FAS were distributing all that cash now.

Yes, and what is so ironic about the whole thing is that other business
leaders who had vested interests in appeasing Fianna Fail were silent. Most of them are now paying a heavy price for their silence.

jetsonx

maringo wrote: »

they seem to use young people as cheap labour - shameful practice and should be investigated.

Its not forced labour you know...they choose to work with that company.

But back on topic, I cannot think of one other high profile person who spoke out about Aherne at al during the period 2002 -2008.(Sure, Joe Higgins but he will always get tarred with the "loony left" brush no matter what he says).

Nolanger

jetsonx wrote: »

Its a pity Irish people did'nt listen to Michael O'Leary's warnings. I hope Irish people learn from this.

I didn't listen because I already kew that 'yes' men (and women) are ruining this country. Positive **** is all they are.

dr.bollocko

Hello folks.
OK so in line with some of our newer rules I'm trying to keep comments on here as in line with the thread as possible however I'd appreciate it if you have an arguments against Mr. O'Leary you would word it in a more interesting manner than "X person is a cnut" etc. We're ok to critique etc but posts like that just add nothing to the discussion.
PM me if any clarification needed on this. To that end a few posts have been edited. Again, PM if you have any questions.

mikemac

heybaby wrote: »

What he has achieved with Ryanair has been nothing short of staggering and all inspite of a series of Fianna Fail led governments who resented his success.

He got support from Transport Minister Seamus Brennan. MOL praised Brennan on quite a few occasions.

Norma_Desmond

maringo wrote: »

Ryanair seems to be the only airline where cabin staff have to pay for their training - they seem to be employed by one of his training agencies (listed on their site) and then kept on the staff for just under a year and let go before the year is up - no wonder the fares are cheap - they seem to use young people as cheap labour - shameful practice and should be investigated.

My sister has worked for Ryanair for the last 11 years and she's been cabin crew for the last 8 years. When she became cabin crew she didn't have to pay for her training so I don't know maybe it's a new thing that you have to pay for it.
It's really not cheap labour as majority of the people I know through my sister have been with Ryanair for many years without being let go.
Just wondering where you got your information from bacuse I don't see how this could actually happen.

starbelgrade

Norma_Desmond wrote: »

Just wondering where you got your information from bacuse I don't see how this could actually happen.

My brother works in baggage handling for Ryan Air in Spain - it's their policy there to hire staff on a 1 year max contract, let them go for 6 months, then re-employ them on another contract.

That way, they avoid having to take on permanent staff & can re-employ them on (often) worse pay & conditions than they were previously on. I'm not sure if they do this in any other countries though.

Still, if it keeps the cost of flights down...!

Norma_Desmond

starbelgrade wrote: »

My brother works in baggage handling for Ryan Air in Spain - it's their policy there to hire staff on a 1 year max contract, let them go for 6 months, then re-employ them on another contract.

That way, they avoid having to take on permanent staff & can re-employ them on (often) worse pay & conditions than they were previously on. I'm not sure if they do this in any other countries though.

Still, if it keeps the cost of flights down...!

I thought that the baggage handlers and even ground staff in other countries were employed by service air not Ryanair.

the groutch

I'm just waiting for him to start his own political party, and blow FF,FG,LAB & SF completely out of the water

bm365

Shock horror as we see the typical begrudery surface from certain members here. Why call him a c*nt and a twat without giving a rational explanation for such an ignorant comment?

It's already been mentioned here by many the excellent job he has done providing cheap flights. When I was a student our class went on quite a few trips, trips which couldn’t have been done without the low cost flights Ryanair provided. And I don’t get the constant bitching about the airline. If you don’t like them then pay twice the price and fly with Aer Lingus.

And there is something else O'Leary has done that wasn't mentioned in this thread. Without the huge financial input from Michael O'Leary the Horse Racing industry would be in a much less successful position right now and I doubt our trainers would have been so dominant at the recent Cheltenham festival.

juma

Why all the hate for O'Leary? He's a businessman, and an excellent one at that. If you dont like his service, dont use it.