Talk:Michael O'Leary (businessman)

Accountant

Did he qualify as an accountant? If so, with which accountancy body? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.43.207.226 (talk) 13:03, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Little updates

I updated the fleet size of Ryanair which is now over 100, and added another quote with the citation.

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why was this article moved from Michael O'Leary to Michael O'Leary (Ryanair) when there is only on Michael O'Leary? --84.157.176.25 17:12, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

Citations?

I've no doubt that O'Leary's quotations are genuine, but shouldn't we be providing notes or citations to back them up? JXM 20:54, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I've provided one citation for the Gdansk shipyard wall comment and another external link for the rest. Ecozeppelin 07:40, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

20th richest?

A citation is needed for this assertion. Where's this list? Is it a men-only list? Is someone willing to maintain this entry every time a new richest-*men* list comes out? Has a corresponding statement been put into the WP pages for the other 19 *men* on the list? Wouldn't it make much more sense to add a new WP page of the top rich people in Ireland and simply point to that instead?? JXM 02:08, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Walmart reference is wrong

The phrase "pile it high and sell it cheap" should be related to Tesco and Sir John Cohen. There is even a book on this. http://www.amazon.com/Pile-high-sell-cheap-authorised/dp/0297004581

O'Leary Expressions

O'Leary makes colourful and extravagant use of the English language:

...About stakeholders, rivals and customers

• "For years flying has been the preserve of rich fuckers. Now everyone can afford to fly."

• "Screw the travel agents. Take the fuckers out and shoot them. What have they done for passengers over the years?"

• On refunds "we don't fall over ourselves if they say my granny fell ill. What part of no-refund do you not understand? You are not getting a refund so fuck off."

• On Lufthansa: "Jurgen (Weber Chairman Lufthansa Supervisory Board) says Germans don't like low fares. How the fuck does he know? The Germans will crawl bollock-naked over broken glass to get them."

• On rivalry with British Airways: "There's too much 'we really admire our competitors'. All bollocks. Everyone wants to kick the shit out of everyone else. We want to beat the crap out of BA. They mean to kick the crap out of us."

• On the Polish market: "Who wants to go to Gdańsk? There ain't a lot there after you've seen the shipyard wall."

• Being happy: "They don't call us the fighting Irish for nothing. We have always been the travel innovators of Europe. We've built the roads and laid the railways. Now it's the airlines!"

• On environmentalists "I’m always actually very pleasant, but don’t believe in trotting out all that PC claptrap just not to upset a couple of fucking environmental lunatics. They are just loons."

• His ultimate goal: "Free tickets. In a decade or so, airlines will pay travellers to distribute people around Europe. The airline industry is like Tesco, Ikea, or network television where viewers watch for nothing and advertisers pay for access to them. Web companies earn money when they deliver click traffic to other sites."

• On the slightly wider Airbus A320 fuselage: "I've heard a lot of horseshit about a wider fuselage. I've yet in 15 years in this industry to meet one passenger who booked his ticket based on that. The seats have been wide enough and the aisles have been wide enough for passengers."

...About British airports' security, post August 10 2006

• Following aircraft bomb plot: "we're still dealing with farcical Keystone Kops-like security measures which add nothing whatsoever to security; are completely ineffectual in terms of improving or adding to security, and are just serving to block up the airports."

• More specifically: "let's deal with a couple of the stupid regulations we are dealing with at the moment [..] it means we are now body searching terrorist suspects like 5 and 6 year children travelling with their parents on holidays to Spain; we're targeting terrorist prospects like elderly passengers and people in wheelchairs who are clearly potentially a great threat to the Great British public and British air safety - this is a nonsense."

• "It feels like Laurel and bloody Hardy are working at the Department of Transport coming up with these security measures."

• "The terrorists must be rolling around the caves of Pakistan laughing."

References

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Friedfish (talk • contribs) 16:36, 2 February 2007 (UTC).

Because

1. First and foremost there are too many quotes. A description of his habit of making controversial statements and a few examples would be fine. This is too much - this is not Wikiquote.
2. Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons says a bio should be "in a neutral, encyclopedic tone" - the "...headings" make it look like a clipping from a tabloid newspaper.
3. Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons says a bio should avoid "both a sympathetic point of view and an advocacy journalism point of view." - if "His ultimate goal: "Free tickets. In a decade or so, airlines will pay travellers to distribute people around Europe. The airline industry is like Tesco, Ikea, or network television where viewers watch for nothing and advertisers pay for access to them. Web companies earn money when they deliver click traffic to other sites."" doesn't sound like advocacy what does? Mark83 21:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Any chance of a SOURCE for these quotations? 89.213.14.25 16:27, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

They are all given. Spanglej (talk) 01:27, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Page move?

In accordance with naming conventions, the disambigator for multiple people with the same name should be the simplest description of the occupation for which the person is notable. I am therefore of the opinion that this page should be located at Michael O'Leary (businessman), as "Ryanair" is not an occupation, it is a company. Any objections? DWaterson (talk) 19:53, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

removed remark that he funded his studies by working as a barman. As he was able to attend Clongowes I feel that this should be proved. It seems unlikely and is orginla research. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.190.151.98 (talk) 16:31, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Contradict

I've added a contradiction notice to this article because the infobox and text contain different locations for O'Leary's birth. I thought it was Kanturk but I don't know for sure. Stifle (talk) 15:42, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

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Ryanair career/ personal life

Under the section Ryanair career, should the line: "He claims he was approached to front the BBC's version of The Apprentice but declined as it was "too much of a distraction".[8]" even be under Ryanair career? Taking part (or not as the case turned out) cannot be construed as a part of his Ryanair career surely? Especially since it's listed again under his personal life section at the end. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ianmanderson (talk • contribs) 07:25, 9 October 2016 (UTC)

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Disputed birth place

The article no longer contradicts itself (it previously had), but the location of his birth now only supported by a ref from facebook. This Irish Times article indicates he might have been born in Mullingar, Co Weastmeath. Michael O'Leary: A Life in Full Flight ISBN 978-1844880560 directly states "Born on 20 March 1961 in a maternity hospital in Dublin’s Hatch Street, on the site of what became the office of the Euro Changeover Board...". The Irish Examiner says Kanturk. I'm inclined to believe the Dublin story, because he grew up in Mullingar, and went to school at Clongowes Wood College and Trinity College Dublin, while Kanturk is much further away.

If anyone can find a definitive source this article could use it. menaechmi (talk) 20:31, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

I grew up in Cork and went to Trinity. Your point? PS: People from all over Ireland attend Clongowes. Though it has a day-pupil cohort, it's predominantly a boarding school. Mike Galvin (talk) 23:30, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

Added Guardian source for being born in Kanturk. Stifle (talk) 10:32, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Something missing between Early life and Ryanair career?

In the Early life section there's no mention of Ryanair, who founded it, how did he become involved with it, etc. Then in Ryanair career we suddenly fast-forward to him managing Ryanair, even though Ryanair wasn't even mentioned in the text before this point. --2001:2003:54F8:ADDE:A96D:1990:CEAC:536C (talk) 15:35, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Anti-fan pov

We've made little progress since I tagged the article [1]. The "Controversy" section needs to go, per WP:STRUCTURE. Material from it that isn't WP:NOTNEWS should be incorporated into the article with historical context, if such context isn't already in the article. --Hipal (talk) 21:35, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

I've removed the controversy and reputation section. Hopefully it is better now. 31.52.172.16 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 21:14, 11 March 2024 (UTC)