MICHAEL O'LEARY,
Sir, - Desmond O'Flynn (March 20th) wanted to know what Government Department or agency had allowed Aer Rianta to put up the daily car-parking rates by a massive 23 per cent.
I am sure he won't be surprised to learn that it is the same Government Department that permitted Aer Rianta to increase the parking charges by 70 per cent two years ago, and the same Government Department that has allowed Aer Rianta over the last three years to increase costs and charges to all airlines, with the result that more routes and services have been withdrawn from the three Irish airports in the past three years than at any time in the history of Irish tourism.
This Department has spent the past four years following a policy of protecting the Aer Rianta monopoly and allowing it to gouge customers and consumers at every turn. This Department is the Department of "Public Enterprise", an oxymoron if ever there was one. The acronym "DOPE" is particularly apt, although given their current policy, the Department of Monopoly Minders might be a more appropriate title. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL O'LEARY,
Chief Executive,
Ryanair,
Dublin Airport.