The refusal of Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan to take a more realistic approach to Ryanair’s attempt to create jobs at Dublin airport was in marked contrast to Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan statement that in the current economic circumstances ‘playing by the existing rules is not very clever’.

This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin when she deplored the fact that Government refusal to act as facilitator had led to the announcement last week of 200 jobs for Prestwick in Scotland rather than in Dublin.

“It is astounding that the Minister for Enterprise is so constrained by the traditional grip which officials have on government action that vitally important jobs are being lost to other countries”, she said.

Minister Ryan was being realistic when he stated that playing by the existing rules was a deficient policy at a time of national crisis, she said.  “Minister Coughlan instead of allowing herself to be constrained by outmoded sensibilities should immediately instruct the Dublin Airport Authority to enter negotiations with Ryanair to ensure that badly needed engineering jobs will be created and retained in Ireland rather than be exported to places like Scotland and other EU countries”, Marian Harkin MEP said.

“This project affects much more than north Dublin as the many engineering apprentices currently in education should be able to see it as a future source of employment, and many of these students are from my constituency of North and West”, Marian Harkin MEP concluded.