Ryanair boss O’Leary says election result is ‘a mess’

RYANAIR boss Micheal O’Leary doesn’t think there will be political stability any time soon and branded the outcome of the election ‘a mess’ yesterday.

He also dismissed the idea of a minority government, saying the country couldn’t survive with a ‘liquorice all-sorts’ government.

Mr O’Leary made his comments in Belfast after launching new winter Ryanair services from the city.

He told RTÉ’s News at One: ‘I think the outcome of the election is a mess and I think it’s inevitable we’ll have another election within 12 months.

‘Ireland, given the fragile nature of our economy, can’t survive with either a minority government or a coalition of Liquorice All-Sorts. We need a stable government and I think we won’t get one based on the results last weekend.’

Mr O’Leary said it was unlikely that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would manage to f orm a government.

The airline boss said he foresaw some big changes in Irish politics, remarking: ‘Logically, whether it’s in one or two more elections, you’re going to see Sinn Féin and the left get stronger and stronger, which ultimately means Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will in some way coalesce and move to the centreright; at the moment they hover in the centre-left.’

He added: ‘You have the radical left, the Shinners, and some of the other lunatics out there, and actually Ireland might be better served by having a right-left debate, so that instead of the Left sitting in opposition but being against everything, they’d actually have to come up with credible economic policies, of which they have none at the moment.’