Tánaiste Mary Coughlan is to meet the chief executive of Ryanair tomorrow to discuss the creation of 300 jobs at Dublin Airport.
News of the meeting comes after a day when Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary released correspondence between him and the office of the Tánaiste.
In a letter faxed to Ryanair's office in Dublin this afternoon, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan said she was "very disappointed" to learn of the company's decision to relocate investment - originally intended for Dublin - to Scotland, despite what she described as the "best efforts" of the IDA to secure the investment for Dublin.
Her letter followed claims made at the weekend that a proposal from Ryanair to create up to 500 maintenance jobs in the former SRT hangar at Dublin Airport foundered because the Government was unwilling to ensure that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) sold or leased the hangar to Ryanair for the same price it had purchased it from SR Technics.
It emerged this evening that Ms Coughlan's office will be in contact with Mr O'Leary tomorrow to set a time for the meeting.
She said earlier the Government was "most anxious" to secure investment from Ryanair.
Mr O'Leary has refused to deal with the DAA and accused them of increasing rents at the airport. He said 300 jobs could be secured for Dublin airport if the Government directed the authority to sell or lease Hangar 6 through the IDA and relocated Aer Lingus line maintenance operations from the hangar to other available buildings.
Mr O'Leary called on the Tánaiste to intervene directly, Mr O'Leary said: "Instead of fobbing us off on the IDA or the DAA, why don't you intervene in this personally, meet me tomorrow and give us a committment that the Government will do what is necessary to win these jobs and this investment for Ireland."
Over the weekend, Ryanair released a series of letters between its chief executive and Ms Coughlan which show the airline offered to create the jobs if the Government or IDA negotiated the hangar’s lease from Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to Ryanair.
The DAA leased the hangar from SR Technics when it closed with the loss of 800 jobs last year.
Ms Coughlan defended the handling of an offer by Ryanair to create 500 jobs at the former SR Technics hangar in a letter to Ryanair which was released by the company to the media this evening.
Ms Coughlan said Ryanair's pursuit of Hangar 6 failed because of the company's "reluctance" to talk with the DAA which owns the hangar and due to the fact that the hangar was occupied by a third party.
The Tánaiste said a number of options for developing facilities at Dublin Airport were put to Ryanair. She said those options included the possibility of new hanger facilities being constructed at Dublin which she said seems to be the basis on which the new facility at Prestwick is being accommodated.
Following calls by the opposition parties to Ms Coughlan to engage directly with Ryanair in order to secure jobs at Dublin airport, Ms Coughlan said in her letter the IDA was willing to act as broker and point of contact for Ryanair.
Ryanair has claimed that the Government's refusal to upset the DAA by considering an application from the budget airline led it to open a maintenance facility in Prestwick, Scotland with the creation of 200 jobs.
Opposition parties today called on Ms Coughlan to engage directly with Ryanair in order to secure jobs at Dublin airport.
"It is time for the Tánaiste to put petty rivalries, sensitivities and red tape aside so that we can make sure that these jobs are delivered and so that the massive skill base that exists among former SRT workers can be used to the greatest extent possible," said Willie Penrose, the party's spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment.