Ryanair will have to pay more than €1 million in legal costs arising from its unsuccessful High Court case in which a judge emphatically rejected claims by the airline that its pilots or their unions had engaged in bullying.
The Ryanair claim arose from messages posted on a pilots' website following the introduction by Ryanair of new training conditions for pilots.
Mr Justice Thomas Smyth, who last week found the only evidence of bullying in the matter was by Ryanair, yesterday awarded the total costs of the seven-day action against the airline.
After hearing submissions, the judge said he had no doubt that all the costs should be awarded to the pilots associations against Ryanair.
Mr Justice Smyth said his conclusion on costs was firm and refused to put a stay on the costs order in the event of a Ryanair appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case was very much out of the norm, the judge said. Referring to his strongly worded judgment last week in which he made a finding of false evidence against two of Ryanair management who testified to the court, Mr Justice Smyth said it was only the second time in his career on the bench that he had to say things he found extremely difficult to say, which could not be left unsaid.
In his judgment last week, the judge dismissed a bid by Ryanair for orders aimed at identifying pilots who posted messages under codenames, such as "ihateryanair" and "cantfly, wontfly" on a pilots website. Ryanair had claimed the messages showed evidence of wrongful activity against it and its employees.
The judge ruled that, when Ryanair set up an investigation to find out who was behind the website, the real purpose of that investigation was to "break the resolve" of the pilots to seek better terms and conditions. There was no warrant for Ryanair's action in seeking assistance from the Garda on the matter, he added.
Ryanair had sought a number of orders against Mr Neil Johnston, an official with the trade union Impact; the Irish Airline Pilots Association and its British counterpart, BALPA. It contended the defendants had a duty to identify persons identified by certain codenames on the Ryanair European Pilots Association (REPA) website.
The defendants denied the claims.
In court yesterday, Mr Michael Cush, for BALPA, asked for full indemnity costs in the case. He argued there should be something penal in the nature of the order sought because of the exceptional circumstances of the case which, the court had ruled, was launched not on the back of a bona fide investigation but was a "feigned exercise".
Counsel for Mr Johnson and IALPA, Mr Brian O'Moore said the court should show its disapproval of Ryanair's conduct.
Counsel for Ryanair, Mr Richard Nesbitt, said it appeared the feeling of victory by the defendants brought the right to demand more than the ordinary costs.
