Tribunal to hear Ryanair’s appeal

Last week was a busy week in the Irish courts with the Anglo Irish Bank trial and it seems this week will be too, on both sides of the Irish Sea.

In Dublin, former Anglo chairman Seán FitzPatrick and former directors William McAteer and Pat Whelan are back in court accused of providing unlawful financial assistance to members of businessman Seán Quinn’s family and the so called “Maple Ten”, for the purchase of shares in Anglo.

Over in London, Ryanair's appeal against a UK Competition Commission order forcing it to sell most of its near 30 per cent stake in Aer Lingus gets under way on Wednesday. The hearing is expected to last three days, with Ryanair arguing that the commission does not have jurisdiction to order an Irish company "to do things or refrain from doing things outside of the UK".

The airline accuses the commission of unfair procedures as it withheld evidence it relied on to show Ryanair's stake has put off airlines from buying or merging with Aer Lingus.

Social entrepreneurs
In other news, more than 230 Irish social entrepreneurs will be gathering in Dublin today to examine how other countries have developed a social enterprise sector, and how Ireland can do it better. "Not only is the social enterprise model a viable, sustainable and achievable means of solving some of society's otherwise intractable problems, it generates income of €1.4 billion per annum in the Irish economy," Anne Horan, CEO of the DCU Ryan Academy said.