Michael O’Leary slammed for comparing other airlines to ‘rapists’

Ryanair boss made the remarks ahead of his airline’s annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday.

Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Rachel Morrogh, said she was dismayed at Mr O’Leary’s remarks.

“These are lazy and uninformed comments," she said.

'It feels like Mr O’Leary is chasing soundbites with no regard for how they may affect people. Undoubtedly, the words of high-profile individuals can contribute to trivialising and tolerating sexual violence in our society. And for many survivors of rape, his words will be deeply hurtful and angering to hear.

“We will write to Mr O’Leary to offer him training on how the trivialisation of rape is so harmful. He has verbalised a historical trope and as a leading figure in industry, he should lead from the front in terms of what he says and does.”

O Leary made the comments regarding rising air travel prices at other airlines would see passengers switch to Ryanair.

“You might find some people will choose not to fly with Ryanair – but you know they’ll be overrun with the people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA, and others desperate to get to Ryanair’s low fares because they can’t afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe.”

He later repeated the “high-fare rapists” comments.

Asked whether this was appropriate language, Mr O’Leary told reporters: “Absolutely.” Challenged on whether it was offensive to victims of rape and sexual assault, he said he would “happily offend” the airlines mentioned.

Further pressed on whether the language was trivialising rape, he said: “That’s what I call high-fare airlines like Lufthansa, BA, and others.”

One in two Irish women and more than one in four Irish men will experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

• 92% of rape victims recorded by police are women (based on 2022 data).
• Women represent  99 % of victims of intimate partner rape recorded by police (based on data from 2022).
• Only 34% of men who experience sexual violence ever disclose the incident to another person, and reporting rates to the Gardaí remain low.