LAST UPDATE | 11 Nov

RYANAIR BOSS MICHAEL O’Leary has reiterated his comments deriding the number of former teachers serving as TDs while also saying Green party politicians need to be “weeded out” of politics. 

O’Leary spoke to Newstalk this morning following widespread condemnation of remarks he made at the launch of Fine Gael TD Peter Burke’s election campaign over the weekend. O’Leary said he wouldn’t hire teachers “to go and get things done”.

Primary teaching union the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation condemned O’Leary’s remarks, labelling them “outrageous” and “insulting”.

Today, Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said he was “pretty annoyed about it”, when asked about O’Leary’s speech. 

“Teachers are people we trust with our most precious possession, out children. It’s a tough job, it’s an impactful job, and I have nothing but respect for teachers,” he said.

Harris said the comments were “crass and ill-informed”. 

“Quite frankly, he wouldn’t be somebody I’d be inviting to a launch because his way of engaging and speaking isn’t to my taste,” said Harris. 

“He can engage and speak as he wishes, but I prefer to do my politics in a more mannerly fashion,” said the Taoiseach.

He said the Dáil was not like running a company and was “meant to be reflective of society”.

He also pointed out that former taoiseach Enda Kenny and former finance minister Michael Noonan were both teachers before entering politics.

“There’s not that many people who can stand up in front of a classroom for five seconds and last, let alone for the full day, for the full week, full month, it is a tough job.

“It’s an impactful job, and I have nothing but respect for teachers.”

Asked about laughter at the comments made by O’Leary at a Fine Gael event at the weekend, he said that cheering at the comments was “inappropriate”.

Harris said while he didn’t like some of the interventions O’Leary has made in relation to some of his previous Cabinet colleagues, he did see the “validity in the point”.

“I think the passenger cap [at Dublin Airport] needs to go,” said Harris. 

“But I never believe in the politics of personalisation, and that’s why I certainly wouldn’t have been platforming him at any such event,” said the Fine Gael leader. 

Harris also said he did not know whether O’Leary had donated to the Fine Gael campaign.

“Michael O’Leary was at a local event in the constituency in which he resides. He will have no further involvement, nor does he have any involvement in the campaign,” Harris said.

“His views don’t reflect my position, or the position of my party at all,” he added. 

Taoiseach Simon Harris says comments made by Michael O'Leary about teachers were crass and ill-informed, adding that he's "pretty annoyed about it." pic.twitter.com/377DKBcLPP

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) November 11, 2024

This morning, O’Leary doubled down on his opinion that there are too many teachers and not enough people from the private sector in Irish politics.

“I think teachers do a great job in the classroom, but I’m not sure that teachers in the Dáil are necessarily the best people to deliver the kind of change and enterprise we need,” he said today. 

He took aim at Green Party Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin, a former teacher, saying:

“I think Catherine Martin would be far better off back in the classroom, doing the valuable work that teachers do, and as far away from the reins of government or making decisions where I think she’s clearly failed.”

O’Leary said “we need different professions, and certainly a better mix of professions in the Dáil if we’re going to deliver for a population that’s rising rapidly over the next decade.”

He said that people should vote for Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil and transfer between the two parties. 

“I think nobody should vote for the greens because they’ve been like weeds in our economy over the last five years, and they need to be weeded out. And I would ignore Sinn Fein because if they clearly can’t run their own party effectively or efficiently, what chance have they of running a government?”

Defending his comments once again, O’Leary said, “All I was doing was launching Peter Burke’s campaign in Mullingar and if there’s been a pile on subsequently by the teachers union and the Sinn Féin and all the left wing tree huggers, and I must have said something right.”

‘Climate denier’

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said today that O’Leary’s comments were “disgraceful”.

“Michael O’Leary is a climate denier. Michael O’Leary is a profiteer. He wants to get profits for Ryanair, that is is sole goal in life, and that’s fair enough. But a government can’t be designed around the needs of one big company.”

“Michael O’Leary was designing his fantasy cabinet,” O’Gorman said, adding that “from the sounds that it would be made up solely on rich men”.

I think Michael O’Leary’s comments yesterday in terms of teachers and disrespecting an entire profession were absolutely disgraceful.

“We’ve seen over the past few weeks, billionaires punching down in America. And it’s really sad to see now that billionaires punching down is becoming part of Irish politics as well.

“I was particularly shocked to see the big cheer at got it from the Fine Gael faithful,” O’Gorman said, before adding, “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”. 

Speaking to reporters this morning, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the “issue here isn’t the comments themselves”. 

“The issue is the response by a room full of Fine Gael members and activists and elected representatives, I presume,” she said.

I don’t think the Taoiseach has clarified that, and I think he should.

Yesterday, McDonald said it is “completely inappropriate” that teachers “would be jeered and demeaned in the way they were at a Fine Gael event”. 

Responding to O’Leary’s original remarks yesterday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, a former teacher, said they were “insulting and fail to recognise the enormous contribution they have made to Irish society, economy and enterprise.”

Speaking at the launch of his party’s manifesto this morning, when asked if it was appropriate for O’Leary to launch the Enterprise Minister’s election campaign, considering the offensive comments the billionaire has made about other government ministers, Martin said: “I wouldn’t do it.” 

“My view is politicians who aspire to public office should lead their own campaigns and launch their own campaigns,” Martin said. 

“No one ever launched my campaign,” he added. 

With reporting from Jane Matthews and Christina Finn