The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, made remarks regarding teachers that were deemed “insulting” and “very disrespectful” by teaching unions, reports RTE.
“The Dáil is full of teachers,” Mr. O’Leary stated at a Saturday night rally supporting Fine Gael’s candidate for Longford-Westmeath, Peter Burke. I adore teachers, so there’s nothing wrong with them, but I wouldn’t typically hire a bunch of them to go out and accomplish tasks.”
Opposition parties questioned the remarks, but Mr. Burke stated that he places a high importance on “the work our teachers and educators do in shaping our children’s futures,” reports RTE.
Kieran Christie, general secretary of the Association of Secondary School Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), described Mr. O’Leary’s comments as “insulting, ignorant, and laughable.”
Simon Harris, the head of Fine Gael, called the remarks “pretty annoyed about it” and said they were “crass and ill-informed.”
“It was organised by a government minister, it appears. It was at a Fine Gael party event and it was loudly applauded and endorsed by those present,” he said, reports RTE.
“They gave him the platform, and obviously they’re backpedalling now for the last 24 hours because it’s obviously not electorally advantageous,” reports RTE.
When asked whether he had “no idea” whether Mr. O’Leary had given to Fine Gael, Mr. Harris said that the “event was open to the public” and addressed the topic of laughing at the event.
According to Mr. Christie, “people are angry because they work hard, they do a good job” and that his comments had infuriated his ASTI coworkers.
Mr. Christie said that Mr. O’Leary was “just a bit player in all of this” while appearing on RTÉ’s Drivetime show, reports RTE.
“To have this kind of abominable nonsense spoken about them at a Fine Gael organised event is just not acceptable.”
According to Roderic O’Gorman, the head of the Green Party, he was “really appalled” by the Ryanair CEO’s disregard for an entire profession, reports RTE.
He said that the response the words garnered from the “Fine Gael faithful” at the occasion “particularly shocked” him.
“Speaking to an agenda who want the Green Party out” is what Mr. O’Gorman blamed Mr. O’Leary on.
He added: “If Michael O’Leary was designing his fantasy cabinet, from the sounds of it, it would be made up solely of rich men. The one thing that Michael O’Leary has been consistent about over the years are his attacks, his undermining of public services in this country,” reports RTE.
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