Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has stood by his comments that “he wouldn’t generally employ a lot of teachers to go out and get things done.”
Mr O’Leary commented that teachers, who make just over 11.4pc of the professions in the 33rd Dáil, the most for any profession, are over-represented and private xenrprise under-represented in politics.
Speaking to Newstalk breakfast Mr O’Leary said: “We do need better diversity and better representation of business people who I think are trained to make decisions and deliver things. They don’t get it right all the time. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with a lot of what Donald Trump does, but all I was doing was launching Peter Burke’s campaign in Mullingar. If it’s been a pile-on subsequently by the teachers’ union and Sinn Féin and all the left-wing tree huggers, then I must have said something right.
“I wouldn’t generally employ a lot of teachers to go out and get things done. I think this country is facing enormous challenges over the next decade, where the population is going to rise from 5 to 6 million people. Now, we need lots of teachers delivering excellent education in the classroom, but a Dáil where there is a striking surplus of teachers is not necessarily one that’s going to get things done. I want to see more people enter the Dáil from private enterprise, from the private sector, and that’s the energy we need if we’re going to fix the infrastructure challenges we face, and if we’re going to provide housing and infrastructure for a population of 6 million people.
I think teachers do a great job in the classroom, but I’m not sure that teachers in the Dáil are necessarily the best people to deliver the kind of change and enterprise we need. I was asked to launch Peter Burke’s campaign for re-election in Meath, where he’s the Minister for Trade, Enterprise, and Jobs. I think Peter and I would both agree that we have done a great job over the last five years creating jobs and creating enterprise, but we need to do more.
I don’t think they’re less qualified than other professions. I think, however, the example of their performance in a number of government departments has been pretty poor. I give you the example of Catherine Martin, for example, who’s a teacher and the Minister for Tourism. She’s been the Minister for Tourism for five years, and what has she delivered? A cap in Dublin Airport; we now can’t grow tourism. I was somewhat amused that recently she brought a paper to government saying we should campaign to win the British Open Golf and bring it to Dublin. You can’t bring it to Dublin while you’ve a cap at Dublin Airport.
I think Catherine would be far better off back in the classroom doing the valuable work that teachers do, as far away from the reins of government and making decisions where I think she’s clearly failed. You look at the RTÉ example over the last two years; she was like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, couldn’t fix the problem, and the ultimate solution she delivered was to give a subsidy to RTÉ of €5m a week for the next three years. That’s not the kind of change we need; that’s not the kind of enterprise we need for the next decade.
So, nobody would stand behind my admiration for the job that teachers do in the classrooms every single day, but I think we need different professions and certainly a better mix of professions in the Dáil if.
Everybody’s free to disagree with me. I’m expressing what I think we should do in the next election. I think people should vote for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. I think Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil should transfer votes to each other. I think nobody should vote for the Greens because they’ve been like weeds on our economy over the last five years and they need to be weeded out. I would also ignore Sinn Féin because they clearly can’t run their own party effectively or efficiently—what chance do they have of running a government?
I think we need to keep the Greens out of Irish politics. After five years, Dublin is the most congested traffic city in the world. The transport minister has refused to take any action on a cap—traffic cap at Dublin Airport—which will result in dramatically higher airfares in almost every area. We also have the highest electricity prices in Europe. Under every single heading, the Greens have failed. I think the best thing that Eamon Ryan could do would be to spend even more time at a talking shop in Baku. I hope everybody this time around at this election will vote for parties that will deliver jobs, enterprise, and infrastructure, and that would clearly exclude the Greens.
Roderic O’Gorman is another example of a teacher. The Minister for Children for the last five years, and children’s services have never been at a lower ebb in this country.
I was simply invited along to help Peter Burke launch his campaign locally in Mullingar. You know, I made a joke about the number of teachers in the Dáil, which I think is a serious issue.
What I said was perfectly correct. I love teachers; I think teachers do a great job. But I think there are too many teachers in the Dáil, and we need more. I don’t like to see us bringing in more teachers. Why can’t we get more business people to go into the Dáil, more computer engineers, more engineers?
I mean, I think one of the challenges this country faces is that we have this archaic system where we need a TD for every 30,000 people. We’re now about to add another 14 TDs to the Dáil when the population goes to 6 million in the next decade or 7 million by 2050. We could have 300 or 400 TDs in the Dáil. Why don’t we change the Constitution? Let’s have one TD for every 60,000 people.
The way I would have the number of TDs in the Dáil is to double their pay. I think TDs should be paid twice what they’re paid today, but there should be only half the number of TDs. Then I think you would encourage more talent, more people, more businesspeople, more engineers, more computer scientists. The future of efficiency for government services is being a computer scientist.
Teachers are terrific at doing their job. I just wish they would spend more time in the schools and less time in the Dáil. I would give you the example of Catherine Martin and Roderic O’Gorman as two TDs, two ex-teachers who are now in the Dáil, who have been full-time ministers for the last five years and who have apparently clearly failed, in my opinion.
Not up to the mark. I mean, with a Minister for Tourism who’s hiding, despite the fact that our main airport has a traffic cap, and who, you know, her performance during the whole RTÉ shambles of the last two or three years.
Micheál Martin is a teacher, and there are exceptions to every rule. I mean, you know, I wouldn’t necessarily endorse a lot of what Donald Trump says either, but there’s an example of a businessman who’s gotten into politics. I don’t think politics should be full of businesspeople either.
I struggle with that. The most overrepresented group in the Dáil are teachers. They do a terrific job in the schools, but not such a good job when they’re line ministers.
I don’t. I mean, I think a lot of people agree with me, and a lot of people will disagree with me. There were a number of teachers at the function on Saturday night who came up to me afterwards and said they agreed with me. But you know, it’s only my opinion. I did make it—I presented, I think, what is a serious issue, and that is the need for more diversity in the Dáil—in a jocular way. But I would stand over the remarks. I think the more teachers we have in the classrooms of Ireland, the better, and the fewer teachers we have in the Dáil or in ministerial offices, the better.
