Sir, Your editorial "Floating on Air" (May 7th) very rightly praises Ryanair for its outstanding achievements. However, you go on to disparage the Government which you seem to think had nothing to do with its success. Moreover, you seem to imply that any official credit which should be given to official sources for the liberalisation of air transport should go to the EU Commission.
As Minister for Transport in 1984/1985, without any EC directive on the matter, I took the initiative to liberalise air transport by, firstly, licensing Avair in 1984. Unfortunately, Avair, against my advice, overextended itself too fast and bit the dust. I was not deterred and, in 1985, I licensed Ryanair. My policy was to allow it to creep first and then walk, so as not to repeat the tragedy of Avair.
This policy has been an outstanding success, even though I was advised by some against it. Moreover, it was an initiative ahead of almost all our European partners.
At that time, if I recall correctly, Belfast Airport had more passengers than Dublin Airport. Today Dublin Airport has several times as many passengers as Belfast.
Politicians often come in for criticism, but an occasional bit of recognition would not go astray. All we are looking for is a fair kick of the ball. - Yours etc.,
Dail Eireann,
Baile Atha Chath 2.