Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has called Transport Minister Eamon Ryan “ineffective and not up to the job”.
Ryanair has called on the Government to announce an immediate rescue plan for the Irish aviation and tourism industry.
In a statement, the airline said the industry is being “devastated by Government mismanagement of the post-Covid reopening, even as vaccinations flood through the population”.
With Taoiseach Micheál Martin set to make an announcement regarding international travel on Friday, Ryanair has issued the Government with a three-point plan to save the industry.
One step in Ryanair’s plan is to restore the UK Common Travel Area (CTA) from 1 June, with the airline condemning current policies surrounding UK citizens as “bizarre and untenable”.
It said: “UK citizens can drive over the Northern Ireland border without restriction, yet UK families, visitors and businesses flying into Ireland must quarantine for 14 days despite the fact that over 75% of the UK adult population had now been vaccinated.
“In recent weeks, major European economies, including Portugal and Spain, have removed all restrictions on UK visitors, but Ireland continues to insist on its useless quarantine of vaccinated UK visitors, only if they fly here from the UK, even while they can drive over Northern Ireland border with no restrictions.”
Ryanair also wants the Government to announce that from 1 July all travel outbound and inbound between Ireland and all other EU member states will not be subject to any hotel quarantine or Covid-19 restrictions.
The airline slammed the requirement that visitors to Ireland from Belgium, France and Luxembourg must spend two weeks in hotel quarantine as “ludicrous”.
“At the end of June, over 80% of Ireland’s adult population (and over 80% of the adults of most EU states) will have received at least their first dose vaccine,” Ryanair said.
“Irish citizens have a right to freedom of movement between Ireland and other EU member states, and as vaccinations reach 80%, there is no justification for hotel or any other quarantines, particularly when 80% of EU adults will have received at least their first dose vaccine.”
Ryanair’s third point to Government criticised NPHET’s recent concerns regarding the Indian variant as “scare stories” that were “not grounded in science or medical fact”.
The airline stated that “all of the evidence concludes” the Indian variant is not resistant to vaccines.
“There are now less than 100 Covid patients in Ireland’s hospitals and less than 40 Covid patients in ICUs. The vaccine programme is working, so Ireland needs an urgent plan to restore the UK CTA from Tues 1 June, and restore the unrestricted right to travel freely between Ireland and other EU member states from 1 July.”
Last week, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan expressed concern regarding the Indian variant of Covid-19.
He said: “NPHET is closely monitoring variants of concern, and are concerned about possible higher transmissibility of the so-called Indian variant and its spread in other countries as well as early reports of its impact on vaccine effectiveness.
“NPHET will keep a close eye on this as we move towards the end of May and consider the advice we need to provide to Government on any further easing of restrictions.”
On Saturday, Public Health England (PHE) said the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was roughly 88% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 from the variant, two weeks after the second dose.
Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60% effective against symptomatic disease caused by the variant.
Both vaccines were 33% effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant three weeks after the first dose.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, meanwhile, stated that the Government “visited untold damage” on Irish aviation and tourism and heavily criticised Transport Minister Eamon Ryan.
“Ireland has a Minister for Transport who has no plan, no policy and no commitment to aviation,” the CEO said.
“Ireland is an island on the periphery of Europe, yet our Transport Minister has sat on an Aviation Recovery Plan since July 2020, but taken no action at all.
“Ryanair has no faith in Minister Eamon Ryan, who has shown himself to be ineffective and not up to the job, even while Irish airlines are closing bases here, and moving aircraft and jobs overseas to the UK and Europe.”
O’Leary added: “Staycations may fill some hotels in the south and west of Ireland during July and August, but it will not fill the hotels of Dublin, and nor will it support Irish tourism once the schools reopen in September.
“Since our Minister for Transport is incapable or unwilling to act, Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar must now take charge and reopen Ireland from the UK from Tuesday 1 June next, and to/from the EU from Thursday 1 July next”.
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