Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary issued a “sincere and unreserved” apology on Friday, 18 September, after calling rival airlines “rapists” over their high fares.
The low-cost airline boss’s comments caused an uproar, and prompted an unexpected mea culpa after he realised his “careless” choice of words had caused “considerable upset and offence”.
“I have come to realise that the word I used too carelessly has caused considerable upset and offence to a wide number of people, especially victims and survivors”, O’Leary said in a video posted online.
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The filmed apology came as something of a surprise. Only a week earlier, when urged to apologise by Rachel Morrogh, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, who accused O’Leary of trivialising rape, and offered him training on the subject, O’Leary had flatly refused.
“Since I clearly did not trivialise the heinous crime of rape, I will certainly not be issuing an apology or accepting your offer of training.”
Morrogh said the centre had received calls from rape victims who were “upset and distressed” by his remarks.
O’Leary made the comments on 10 September while speaking to reporters outside the airline’s headquarters in Dublin, ahead of its annual general meeting.
There he told the press that, while some people would choose not to fly with Ryanair, the company would be inundated with people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, British Airways and others, desperate to take advantage of Ryanair’s low fares “because they can’t afford to fly with high-fare rapists around Europe”.
When asked by a journalist whether he thought it was appropriate language, he replied, “Absolutely!”.
His remarks sparked immediate criticism in Ireland and in the UK, with politicians and campaigners condemning his choice of words.
Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was “disappointed” by O’Leary’s comments, exhorting Ryanair’s chief to “stand back, reflect, and listen to women on this issue”.
He stopped short of demanding an apology, a position not shared by Labour Party Senator Laura Harmon, who explicitly called for one.
“The casual use of the word ‘rapist’ to describe prices of his competitors is deeply shocking and could be traumatising for any survivor of sexual abuse”, she said.
UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander, meanwhile remarked that she was accustomed to hearing O’Leary’s “considered thoughts”, adding she doubted women who had been victims of such violence would be “rushing to book tickets with him”.
In his filmed apology, O’Leary explains his change of heart came after “considerable time and conversations, with family and friends”, both inside and outside Ryanair, over the previous ten days, which made him realise the offence his comments had caused.
“I am truly sorry for the offence and upset I have caused you by my careless use of those words. It won’t happen again,” he said.
“I will try to learn from this mistake and do better in the future.”
Morrogh welcomed his recognition of the hurt caused, saying that “Mr. O’Leary’s apology helps promote a greater public understanding of the impact language can have and the harm that trivialising sexual violence can do”.
“Words matter”, she said, and O’Leary, no stranger to controversy, might have known it, too.
The Ryanair boss has previously made contentious remarks concerning obese and Muslim passengers, mooted the notion of imposing a charge on travellers to use the lavatory during flight and voiced scepticism about climate change.
