{"id":620675,"date":"2026-09-10T19:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620675\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T19:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:36:10","slug":"ryanair-boss-michael-oleary-criticised-over-high-fare-rapists-comments-the-irish-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620675\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryanair boss Michael O\u2019Leary criticised over \u2018high-fare rapists\u2019 comments \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryanair <\/a>chief executive Michael <\/a>O\u2019Leary<\/a>\u2019s description of rival airlines as \u201chigh-fare rapists\u201d trivialises sexual violence and hurts victims, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

Speaking in advance of his airline\u2019s AGM on Thursday, O\u2019Leary said it is \u201cabsolutely\u201d appropriate to compare other airlines to \u201crapists\u201d.<\/p>\n

The billionaire businessman claimed rising air travel prices at other airlines would see passengers switch to Ryanair.<\/p>\n

He told reporters at the company\u2019s headquarters in Dublin: \u201cYou might find some people will choose not to fly with Ryanair \u2013 but you know they\u2019ll be overrun with the people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA and others desperate to get to Ryanair\u2019s low fares because they can\u2019t afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later repeated the \u201chigh-fare rapists\u201d comments.<\/p>\n

Asked whether this was appropriate language, O\u2019Leary told reporters: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Challenged on whether it was offensive to victims of rape and sexual assault, O\u2019Leary said he would \u201chappily offend\u201d the airlines mentioned.<\/p>\n

Further pressed on whether the language was trivialising rape, he said: \u201cThat\u2019s what I call high-fare airlines like Lufthansa, BA, and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chief executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Rachel Morrogh, said she was dismayed at O\u2019Leary\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are lazy and uninformed comments. It feels like Mr O\u2019Leary is chasing soundbites with no regard for how they may affect people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cUndoubtedly, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will write to Mr O\u2019Leary 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rape survivor and campaigner Fiona Doyle said O\u2019Leary needs to apologise.<\/p>\n

She told Newstalk: \u201cYou can understand it if it was a slip of the tongue, but for the reporters to come back and question him on the word he used, and for him to repeat it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, \u2018I don\u2019t care who this offends\u2019 … it was just so wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said: \u201cI think it\u2019s disgusting that Michael O\u2019Leary would trivialise rape and sexual assault by bandying around the word \u2018rapists\u2019 in order to get a provocative soundbite and get covered in the media in relation to other airlines.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to say that it wasn\u2019t offensive \u2013 it\u2019s offensive to victims and survivors of rape and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what he was doing was purely using a word that he knew would get airtime \u2013 and no recognition of the fact that women, men, LGBT+ people who\u2019ve been the victims of sexual assault which is at an epidemic level in our society and internationally would feel really insulted by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coppinger said O\u2019Leary should apologise and withdraw the remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really serious problem that\u2019s faced by so many women, so many LGBT+ people \u2013 and it is at epidemic levels in our society and internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victims\u2019 advocate Caroline Forde accused O\u2019Leary of being \u201ccallous\u201d and using \u201csensational language about a very pervasive and serious issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

She told Newstalk radio: \u201cHe\u2019s doing that while triggering and re-traumatising victims and survivors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely offensive,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Additional reporting: PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryanair chief executive Michael O\u2019Leary\u2019s description of rival airlines as \u201chigh-fare rapists\u201d trivialises sexual violence and hurts victims,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,124976,61,60,10726,1899],"class_list":["post-620675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dublin-rape-crisis-centre","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-michael-oleary","tag-ryanair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}