Ryanair: Michael O’Leary didn’t pull low fares from thin air. For that he needed to cut costs dramatically. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters What Ryanair needs now

Michael O’Leary’s shred-the-rulebook management style created a runaway success. But is it still right for Ryanair?

Gen Charles de Gaulle: To survive, Europe needs a return to big politics in the style of the French militarist, and Helmut Kohl, Jacques Delors and François Mitterrand. Photograph: PA Wire Germany goes to polls focused on cost not value of Europe
ROSA (Reproductive Rights, against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity) organised a ‘Handmaids’ lobby. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Dail is back and protests signal some of the pressing issues
Micheál Martin: his preference after the next election would probably be for a coalition involving Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and a number of Independents Stephen Collins: Martin’s courageous stance on Sinn Féin is correct
Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin and Arlene Foster of the DUP: “We have ongoing conflict stalemate rather than conflict resolution, and how could it be otherwise when we don’t agree on the constitutional future?” File photographs: Getty Images Alex Kane: Tough to avoid conclusion that NI peace process drawing to a close
Rob Grant and Stomptown Brass Robert Grant: The truth deserves a decent funeral
Rev Norman Hamilton: “There is deep disillusionment with the vanishing hope devolution produced.” File photograph: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Eamonn Mallie: 'Gerry Adams has more baggage than Aer Lingus'
Newstalk: George Hook has been working at a station where the line between news and opinion has blurred George Hook’s right to free speech ends where it does gratuitous harm
Cian O’Sullivan in action against Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Cian O’Sullivan eager to stick to successful blueprint for victory
Demonstrators celebrate the Catalan national day in Barcelona on Monday. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images Sinn Féin’s stance on Catalan independence is deeply hypocritical
Manzi Joseph in Tramore, Co Waterford. Photograph: Patrick Browne ‘Reaching Ireland was like a dream. It's protected and I'm safe’
“Both Government and Garda sources said it would be crucial that the Garda gets to grips, quickly and firmly, with crises as they arise. Many in the force believe problems have been allowed to fester for too long and have damaged the force unnecessarily.” File photograph: Getty Images A daunting job: Can any one person reform the Garda?
The European Union flag flies outside the European Commission building in Brussels: in a landmark decision the commission found that Apple owed the Irish Government over €13bn plus interest for unpaid tax. Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg Our diplomats facing a fight in Brussels and it’s not about Brexit
Tyrone’s Cormac McAnallen lifts the Sam Maguire after the All-Ireland final victory over Armagh in 2003. ©INPHO/Patrick Bolger Dónal McAnallen on defending his brother Cormac's legacy
Brexit countdown: after a few summer weeks of sanity, UK strategy has returned to chaos. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA The UK’s Brexit strategy has returned to a state of chaos
Former Armagh star Tony McEntee giving some words of advice to the Mayo team. Photograph: Lorraine O’Sullivan/Inpho Cross pollination: McConville detects McEntee’s influence on Mayo
A protester takes part in an anti-Brexit demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA Wire We shouldn’t fear to talk about Irexit, but it is still a bad idea
The recent surge in corporation tax from foreign companies corresponds to €1,500 for every household in the country. Photograph: Getty Images Seamus Coffey: Choices have to be made on budget day
Waterford’s Barry Coughlan gets to grips with Jonathan Glynn during the All-Ireland final at Croke Park. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Johnny Glynn: from the Bronx to the Liam MacCarthy
John Mitchel: supported slavery and the confederate side in the American Civil War Are we right to honour John Mitchel?
Homes under construction in Adamstown, Co Dublin. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd How do you build a new Dublin town?
A projection of Leo Varadkar’s personality: the Taoiseach competing in Dublin City Triathlon last weekend. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Is the spin-over-substance meme beginning to stick to the Taoiseach?
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins A semi-State for housing would solve absolutely nothing
Laura Kennedy as a Trinity College PhD philosophy student. Photograph: Aidan Crawley The Stoics taught me to have compassion for others rather than pity for myself
US president Donald Trump rose to power on the votes of those who are at the bottom and see power as the ability to kick others in the face in your own favour. Photograph: TJ Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg Emer O’Kelly: Nationalism at the root of much evil
A minimum payout of $230m for Floyd Mayweather and $70m for Conor McGregor looks assured. Photograph: Steve Marcus/Reuters McGregor’s payday just one part of sport’s cash-fuelled hype bubble
President Michael D Higgins: it’s hard to think of someone more suited to serve the next seven years, as the State celebrates the centenary of the War of Independence and the Civil War. Photograph: Frank Miller Oliver Callan: Michael D Higgins should get a second term
Ben Brosnan beside the smashed Civil War Monument at Talbot’s Bridge in Knocknagoshel: such actions invite a simplistic, polarised narrative of conflicts and aftermaths, and create amnesia about how myths were fashioned. Photograph: John Reidy Diarmaid Ferriter: Irish Civil War has its own contentious monuments
Vacant former social housing in a small flats complex off Townsend Street in Dublin. Photograph: Frank Miller Why the Government refuses to intervene in housing crisis
‘Forty per cent of public transport users are now travelling free, according to a recent report conducted for the Department of Transport.’ Photograph: Frank Miller Age discrimination in taxation is a ticking time bomb
We might say that the most distinctive thing about contemporary Irish identity is precisely its radical openness The State of Us, Part 4: The ties that bind
A man lights a candle at an impromptu memorial at Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain. Photograph: Reuters/Susana Vera Why Spain is a fertile ground for terrorists
Protesters and counter-protesters argue during a demonstration in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Saturday. Photograph: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images Una Mullally: Why laughing at the far-right is dangerous
“Nice pace – shame about the maple leaf socks.” Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar jogging in the Phoenix Park. Photograph: PA Wire Varadkar and Trudeau: is it bromance or just another photo-op?
‘The alt-right have committed significant violence since the turn of this century, far more than the Antifa, but the opposition cannot stoop to the same kind of tactics and retain any kind of moral authority.’ Photograph: Edu Bayer/The New York Times Breda O’Brien: Why US needs militant, powerful non-violence
“There would be a Pandora’s box of symbolic issues, from flags to language, that could require negotiation.” How a united Ireland would work
John McNamee, dressed as a customs worker, during a demonstration by members of Border Communities against Brexit at Carrickarnon, Co Louth, earlier this year. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Ireland needs to reject the fantasy of no hard Border
There was clear and indisputable video evidence of the white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville last weekend. Their faces weren’t hidden under the traditional attire of hoods and robes. Photograph: Edu Bayer/New York Times Brian Boyd: Sunlight of tech disinfects Charlottesville
Two Mexican men at the Plano Day Labour Centre in Dallas, where workers seek employment. Photograph: Suzanne Lynch Mexicans who have made homes in Dallas feel migrant unease
Waterford’s Austin Gleeson leaves Cork’s defenders Colm Spillane and Marc Coleman in his wake as he soloes through to score a wonder goal in the semi-final at Croke Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho TV View: Gleeson’s thing of beauty crowns a memorable weekend
'This is Fionnuala O’Carroll-Kelly, the author and humanitarian, and I wish to know why I’ve been sent a – what does it say on it, Ross – Free Travel Pass?' Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: ‘Public transport is for the poor and fallen’
Kevin Myers with Michael O’Leary at the launch of the former’s memoir, ‘A Single Headstrong Heart’, last year. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Diarmaid Ferriter: Radio reveals what a strange country this is
Cork’s Stephen McDonnell and Damien Cahalane in action against Waterford’s Shane Bennett. Photograph: Oisín Keniry/Ippho Jackie Tyrrell: Cork can face down Waterford challenge a second time
Ireland’s Ciara Griffin celebrates scoring her side’s second try against Australia in the World Cup clash at Belfield. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho TV View: Solid debut from strong pundits as Ireland get job done
The rebound in household sizes reflects birth patterns. Between 2008 and 2013 we had a baby boom with more than 70,000 births annually. Housing policy built on shaky foundations
‘Members of the public are often a little sceptical about the value of a suspended sentence.’ Photograph: Stephen Hird/Reuters Why a suspended sentence is a real punishment
Luas-related signal and electronic boxes at College Green, Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien Una Mullally: Urban design is an afterthought in Dublin
Grainne Byrne: “Friends advised me to take a few jobs off my CV and my LinkedIn to make myself look younger” Ireland’s over-50 entrepreneurs: ‘My bones tell me I’m 65, but my brain tells me I’m 25’
Somebody tries to revive a man who overdosed on heroin in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, a hub for heroin addicts. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Is America’s opioid epidemic coming to Europe?
Kevin Myers. “He fashioned a stick with which anyone who disliked his article for other reasons could beat him.” Photograph: RTÉ Radio One/PA Wire Colum Kenny: Accusations of anti-Semitism cover a multitude
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons Stephen Collins: Varadkar’s Brexit spat is pointless
Maxim with his wife Patricia and daughter Annabelle at their home in Co Dublin. Photograph: Aidan Crawley ‘People often look at us because we’re a bi-racial couple’
The 50-20-30 plan is the inspiration of US senator and Harvard bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren who, with her daughter, came up with the plan to help people manage their money 50-20-30: Go on a diet for your money