Ryanair boss apologises for “rapist” comments

Michael O'Leary previously refused to back down even when challenged on his language by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

O'Leary had been accused of "trivialising" rape by the Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre after making the remarks ahead of his airline's annual general meeting in Dublin last week.

In a video posted on YouTube, Mr O'Leary said that, in conversation with "family and friends", he has come to realise that the word he used "so carelessly" has caused considerable "upset and offence" to a wide number of people, "especially to victims and survivors".

"I want to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to those people, especially to the survivors," he said.

"I am truly sorry for the offence and the upset I have caused you by my careless use of those words. It won't happen again. I will try and learn from this mistake and do better in future."

Mr O’Leary had initially refused to apologise, saying it was "absolutely" appropriate to compare other airlines to rapists.

The original comments were: "You might find some people will choose not to fly with Ryanair - but you know they'll be overrun with the people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA and others desperate to get to Ryanair's low fares because they can't afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe."

In a letter to Mr O'Leary, DRCC CEO Rachel Morrogh urged him to issue a "swift apology to survivors of rape and sexual violence".

Mr O'Leary initially replied to Ms Morrogh saying she had defamed him and that: "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."