DAA answers Ryanair with news of 250 jobs in aircraft maintenance

TWO COMPANIES will employ 250 people in aircraft maintenance at Dublin airport, the agency responsible for the facility said yesterday in response to Ryanair accusations that the State let slip an opportunity to create 500 jobs there.

Over the weekend, Ryanair released a series of letters between its chief executive Michael O’Leary and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan.

The correspondence shows that the airline offered to create up to 500 jobs in aircraft maintenance in the old SR Techics hangar at Dublin airport, if the Government or IDA negotiated the hangar’s lease from Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to Ryanair.

The airline said that the Government’s refusal to upset the “DAA monopoly” resulted in it deciding to open a maintenance facility in Scotland, creating 200 jobs there.

The DAA leased the hangar from SR Technics when it closed with the loss of 800 jobs. Yesterday the authority pointed out that it has leased hangars to both a new firm, Dublin Aerospace, and Aer Lingus, and said that those business will provide employment for more than 250 people.

The DAA said that it would have been willing to talk to Ryanair about its plans. “But at no stage did Ryanair approach the DAA in relation to having meaningful commercial negotiations with regard to this matter,” the authority said.

Ms Coughlan yesterday said that every effort was made to aid Ryanair’s proposal.

“Over a protracted period last year every effort was made by me, in consultation with IDA Ireland, to advance the outline proposal for securing the Ryanair investment for Dublin airport, including direct engagement by IDA Ireland, at my request,” she said.

“Despite the best efforts of IDA, as acknowledged by Mr O’Leary of Ryanair, it was not possible to overcome obstacles in relation to access to specific hangar space at the airport,” the minister added.

She asked Mr O’Leary and Ryanair to maintain their dialogue with her department and said that the State’s enterprise agencies would assist in whatever way they could.

However, Mr O’Leary said Ms Coughlan’s statement was all talk and no action.

“These jobs could be secured for Ireland and see SR Technics engineers re-employed if this Minister for Enterprise would simply direct the DAA monopoly to sell Hangar 6 to Ryanair at the same arm’s-length price they paid recently to buy the facility from SR Technics,” he said.