O’leary buying gaffs no gaffe on his part
THANK you Michael O’leary for buying homes for your workers so they can afford a place to live.
It’s the kind of thing unions would campaign for in a housing crisis. If only there were more like you, Mick.
That’s what Claire Byrne should have said to the Ryanair boss when he came on her radio show on Wednesday.
Instead, O’leary was treated like a baddie on RTE.
What was his crime? Ensuring the lowest paid of his staff were buffered from – and not pushed out by – record rents.
Ryanair’s purchase of 40 homes near Dublin Airport, to affordably accommodate 120 employees living here, is a good thing. How could it not be?
The way Byrne framed it, you’d swear O’leary was swiping homes from under the feet of hard-working families, for gain.
But that whole argument is a fallacy. Airline workers here have to live somewhere. Why not in secure, rent-controlled homes owned by your employer?
And, as he said: “There will be 40 other houses and apartments available in Dublin because now Ryanair staff won’t be renting them.”
The key difference is the buy-up is not for profit, that’s what vulture funds do, and the Government invites them in with tax breaks.
Instead, it’s a fair rental scheme for workers of a big international company that has its roots here, has an interest in the welfare of the workforce, and can afford to do it.
Even Housing Minister Darragh O’brien acknowledged that the Ryanair homes were just 1% of the new housing stock in the area.
O’leary knew he was on the side of right, saying: “I have absolutely nothing to apologise for. I am very proud we can invest in this for our staff; we can guarantee good, clean and affordable, accessible accommodation for them.”
It’s worth noting what O’leary is doing, why he is doing it and who he is doing it for. Ryanair identified a problem with new recruits having to live on the other side of the
city due to mad rents and a lack of availability.
This is only happening in Dublin, where, despite efforts at denial, we have the worst housing system in Europe.
Pilots on six-figure salaries are wealthy enough to buy; and well-paid senior staff can manage.
But new arrivals on the lowest tiers were having to live far away, with no public transport to get them to the airport for early or late flights.
So Ryanair solved the problem by buying houses and renting them for a year to new recruits at a discount price, until they find their feet and get promoted.
It’s being done, because it’s needed, in a country with a dysfunctional housing market.
It’s for the employee, which O’leary says is Ryanair’s second priority, after passengers.
It’s akin to what Guinness did back in the 1870s - built houses for their employees to rent at decent rates.
In England, Cadbury did it for their workers too.
Even business owners of the 19th century knew a happy workforce was a productive one.
The state and its defenders don’t like it because it shows them up, harking back to Victorian times.
I’m aware it’s media theatre to portray O’leary as the panto villain, but when he does something useful, give him credit.
He took the housing of his workers into his own control.
If millionaires want to add to the housing stock, bring it on.