Cool your jets! Higgins ditches Lear for Ryanair
AFTER being blasted during the last election campaign for excessive use of the Government’s Learjet, it seems President Michael D Higgins has gone from one extreme to the other.
Heading to Malta this week for a State visit, the President astonished passengers when he climbed aboard a Ryanair flight bound for the Mediterranean island.
The 81-year-old and his wife Sabina took front-row seats on the budget airline and relaxed during the three-hour 40minute flight.
A representative in Áras an Uachtaráin confirmed to the Irish Mail on Sunday that the President has used Ryanair for official business on a number of occasions.
He had previously been spotted on the low-cost carrier jetting off to Gran Canaria for a pleasure trip in December 2018.
He was praised in Spanish media at the time for his humble travel choice, as Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez had been criticised for using a tax-funded private jet for personal use.
But that Spanish jaunt came after President Higgins had been slammed by fellow presidential hopeful Gavin Duffy for his ‘sense of entitlement’ during the 2018 election campaign, after it emerged he had racked up a bill of €36,000 for four short flights on the government jet.
President Higgins dodged any suggestion of hypocrisy by leaving the private jet at home as he addressed the importance of addressing climate issues during his trip to Malta.
One cheeky Twitter user quipped of the President’s Ryanair journey: ‘Certainly no legroom issues to contend with.’