Letters to the Editor: Reigniting the Ryanair vs Eamon Ryan feud
Ryan Ryanair’s Greens Eamon Picture: Page On And The Subject Were Evan Treacy/pa X To Mocking
Tuesday brought another mini-earthquake domestically. The second coalition leader to resign within three months, Eamon Ryan’s political career will soon come to an end. As was much remarked upon, he has achieved a lot of his personal and party aims.
I engaged in arguments and celebrations with family and friends; we discussed his personal brand, green measures (love or hate them, they’re here) and where the Green Party will go from here. After poor local and European elections, in which their coalition colleagues did well amidst some significant sniping at each other (cough, Regina Doherty), will we soon see the Coalition finally come apart, amidst the landmine of a Green leadership contest?
Regardless of political scheming, discussion of policy and election strategies, yesterday did throw up the reignition of a familiar feud: Ryanair vs the Green Party, specifically Ryan.
Reminiscent of their feud in early March, Ryanair’s X page pumped out six posts yesterday, broadly mocking Ryan and his party. Coarse perhaps, but very wittily done.
Including slogans such as #flightsnotbikes and the word ‘failed’ multiple times, Ryanair’s admin produced a scathing review, a type that is not seen outside of the social media world.
The vast majority of my generation receive their news from these platforms, and this sort of duelling gets a lot of attention. It sparked a few angry debates in comment sections, people of different world views arguing over the decorum of Ryanair, and whether CEO Michael O’Leary should be platformed, etc.
It was all entertaining, nonetheless some facts remain. As David McWilliams pointed out recently, Ryanair IS the biggest airline in the world. It sparks new demand where there was none, has democratised air travel, employed thousands, and paid billions in tax revenue.
It would be fun to ask many in those comment sections where and with which airline were they going on holiday this summer.
So I wondered and questioned as I compared these two ideas of progress, the trademark blue and yellow versus, well, green… which has brought more good to Irish people’s lives in the past four years?
The election is over and all the posters have been taken down. However, many poles around me still have those unsightly cable ties. Why don’t candidates remove them as well?
On my walk to Salthill last Monday night, I observed a lot of poles on the old Dublin Rd across from Wellpark with multiple cable ties on them. Candidates are required by law to remove these as well as the posters within a week of polling day but how can this be enforced when nobody knows which candidate(s) left them behind?
We will be having a general election within the next nine months, when the posters reappear. I suggest Galway City Council and indeed other local authorities around the country take random photos of poles with election posters on them. After the election is over and the posters are gone, they should go back to these same poles they took photos of in the first place. If any of them contain cable ties they will then know which candidates had a poster on them and that candidate or candidates should be fined.
From then on I bet candidates would remove the cable ties with the posters.
Tribute should be paid to Eamon Ryan. For 30 years he travelled the hard road, telling people simple, crucial truths that no one wanted to hear. History will be kind to Eamon Ryan.
Future generations will question the rest of us. I hope we pass that exam. We’re not exactly sitting the honours paper at the moment.
Sinn Féin needs to change its message, “Change starts here”, as what does it mean? The people wanted solutions rather than just anger, outrage, and catastrophising by leader Ms McDonald. If we look back over the last four years, the Government has faced huge and unexpected challenges too numerous to mention.
For example, the covid pandemic, regional conflict, geopolitical instability, and a plethora of problems closer to home. Nevertheless, the three parties worked well overall, of course mistakes were made, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
We live in a time when we must prepare for the unexpected; however, the Dublin riots were beyond shocking. The then Taoiseach and current Tánaiste and Eamon Ryan worked hard and sent out a united message of unity and largely helped all stakeholders to stabilise a frightening chaos on O’Connell St, seen worldwide.
Contrast this with Sinn Féin, who immediately called for an election, and for the removal of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, along with the dismissal of Justice Minister Helen McEntee. They take every opportunity to capitalise on the Government’s difficulties, while aligning themselves with populist opinion. As usual with Sinn Féin, it’s more shame, blame, and criticism, while offering no solutions or practical alternatives.
In the last five years, housing and health were also important concerns for everyone. Sinn Féin’s approach was to vilify landlords, and threaten to freeze rents for five years, if they got into government. Their spokesperson on housing also gave the example of high Dublin rental prices, conveniently forgetting the many responsible landlords all over the country respectful of their tenants, receiving a reasonable rent.
Sinn Féin’s promise to deliver homes for ‘as low as €250,000’ if elected is a desperate attempt to curry favour with first-time house buyers.
It follows their party leader’s claims some months ago, that they would deliver three-bed semi-detached homes in Dublin city for €300,000. Of course there’s no thought for those who paid €450,000 just 12 months before. What hare-brained populist nonsense will be next?
Over the last six weeks of local and European election campaigning, we have seen an energised Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with Taoiseach and Tánaiste, moving swiftly around the country; meanwhile, the Sinn Féin leader was conspicuous by her absence.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have provided stability and worked well in Government. They realise, like any two in a relationship, they are stronger together. In my opinion, Labour plus the Independents are both an unknown quantity and a mixed bag, there like Lisdoonvarna matching for “sporting and courting” after the general election.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin, while not on life support, need not be in a rush to choose their ministerial cars just yet.