Cowen accused of 'false claims'

Ryanair has accused the Taoiseach Brian Cowen of making a number of false claims in the Dáil earlier this week and asked him to correct the record as early as possible.

In a letter sent to Mr Cowen this morning, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said the airline was "astonished" at the Taoiseach's comments, which he claimed were both "damaging and defamatory".

Mr O'Leary said the Taoiseach's claim that rival Aer Lingus has a 20-year-lease over the Hangar 6 facility which cannot be broken without breaking the law, was untrue since the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan had informed Mr O’Leary that there was a clause in the lease allowing Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to vacate the facility.

The airline also said that Mr Cowen's contention that there was a 24-month notice period in the lease contradicted assurances given by the Tánaiste at a meeting on Tuesday evening, that it was a 12-month notice period.

Mr O'Leary said the Taoiseach’s assertion that Ryanair did not make an offer for Hangar 6 was "manifestly untrue" as the airline has already published offer letters to the Tánaiste and the IDA confirming an offer to create 500 engineering jobs at the airport facility.

Ryanair also questioned Mr Cowen's claim that there had been a 'competition' for the Hangar 6 facility saying it was not aware of any such event happening.

"We now find ourselves in the bizarre situation of offering to create up to 300 Irish jobs in the Hangar 6 facility but these jobs will shortly be lost to another European country because the DAA has lease the - still empty - Hangar 6 facility to Aer Lingus and your Government is now spinning lies and falsehoods to defend its indefensible refusal to work with Ryanair to win back those 300 jobs for Ireland," said Mr O'Leary.

The airline formally requested Mr Cowen to correct the Dáil record at the earliest possible date.

In a separate letter sent to the Tánaiste, Mr O'Leary called on Ms Coughlan to forward on a letter to the airline, which she had told the media had been circulated to Ryanair.