RYANAIR VS MUSK LIVE | CEO Michael O'Leary Holds Press Conference After 'Idiot' Spat With Elon Musk

About the outcome of those midterm elections. But if he loses the House or loses the Senate, there will be a dramatic change in US politics and there will be another presidential election in three years' time. So there will be another US president and I think Trump gets lots of things right and he gets a number of things wrong. But that's democracy and he was elected and we certainly in Europe have to manage that relationship for the next two or three years. But where he's wrong, Europe should stand up as a strong trading block and tell him he's wrong and stop trying to pander to him and invite him to dinner when he wants to. I don't understand why he needs to own Greenland. It's certainly not for some defense or military reasons because as a member of NATO and Denmark is a member of NATO, I don't think Denmark or Greenland would have any issue if Trump wanted to reopen those bases in Greenland and invest in Greenland. But you don't need to own it for that.

I think Ireland has no option but to... I mean, Irish neutrality is a joke, much beloved of the left-wing lunatics in this country. You know, we are a defenseless island on the periphery of Europe. We are not able to protect either our skies or the seas off our coast and I think Europe will be running out of patience with Ireland on this. I believe Ireland should be a member of NATO. I think de Valera was historically wrong in the 1950s. You know, we should have joined NATO in 1945 and the late 1940s. We would have developed deep sea submarine ports off the west coast of Ireland. NATO would have built about 25 airports across Ireland and we would have far better infrastructure than we've managed on our own. But de Valera made the chronic mistake to want to be isolationist. Isolationism has never worked. It didn't work in Ireland in the 50s and 60s. Didn't work in North Korea and didn't work in China in the 70s, 80s and 90s either. We live in a world where free trade works. Free trade reduces cost for consumers and increases the wealth of nations and has done so since Adam Smith wrote his treatise in the 1850s. And Ireland needs to wise up. We need to generate much more revenue and we do need to significantly increase our defense spending and I would personally think Ireland should be a member of NATO. I don't know how you can be a member of the European Union and not be a member of NATO because either we're going to support Europe when it's under threat as it is currently in Ukraine. If Putin decides he's going to invade the Baltic states or Finland or Poland, what are we going to do? Oh, sorry, we're neutral. We have to come to the aid and support of our European allies as we should come to the aid and support of our American allies. I have no difficulty with the left-wing loonies whinging about the US using Shannon Airport. Shannon Airport benefits significantly from the US military using Shannon as a stopover point for its troops etc. And we should encourage that. And anything that annoys the looney left in this country should be actively encouraged.

They are moving along at a glacial pace. We have far more pressing things to deal with. I'm already contracted up to 2028 and there's really not much pressure on me or the board to finalize any new arrangements. Like we are dealing with things like the price of oil, Boeing delivery delays. Why can't we get Micheál Martin with a 20-seat majority to scrap a cap at Dublin airport when the Emiratis can double the size of their terminal in five months? Really, my contract falls way down the list of issues that need to be addressed.

There's no aircraft available until about 2032 or 2033. So thinking strategically, we're in a very fortunate position to be able to have controlled growth out to 2034. We would certainly need to do another aircraft order in the early 2030s. But the chances of there not being some unforeseen downturn in aviation or some unforeseen downturn in the world between now and the early 2030s are I think zero because there's always some catastrophe visited on the airline industry every three, four or five years. The last one was COVID. We emerged out of COVID, then Putin illegally invaded Ukraine, something that I disagree fundamentally with Trump on. I think Trump is right on NATO needing to increase spending. Trump is right on rowing back against environmental taxation. Trump is right on an awful lot of his economic policies, but he is historically wrong on Ukraine and not criticizing Russia and he is historically wrong on tariffs. Tariffs have never succeeded. They have never worked and they will never succeed because they increase inflation and the cost of living for ordinary people. But so thinking strategically, we're about as well placed as any airline can be and I would certainly hope that we will be able to pick from maybe three suppliers in the early 2030s: Boeing, Airbus or Comac. But we have to wait and see what happens between 2026 and 2030 first.

Yeah, Trump is wrong on Greenland. I mean, I think the US has persuasive and real kind of defense concerns on Greenland. But if you have, I think they already reached agreement with Denmark and with Greenland after the Second World War. They had 12 or 15 military bases or air bases in Greenland. If you want to reopen those bases, I think they'd get nothing but support from NATO and from Denmark. But you can't in this world just go in and say, 'I want Greenland. Give it to me.' I mean, what would you then say to the Chinese if the Chinese want to go and invade Taiwan? What do you say? I mean, I think he's already historically wrong on Putin just pushing into and invading Ukraine in what is clearly an illegal invasion. And I think he is historically wrong on that as well. But look, people also need to stand back. History has shown us you have American administrations. This administration will last for another three years. There will be midterm elections in the states at the end of this year. I have no idea what the outcome of those midterm elections will be. But if he loses the House or loses the Senate, there will be a dramatic change in US politics and there will be another presidential election in three years' time. So there will be another US president and I think Trump gets lots of things right and he gets a number of things wrong. But that's democracy and he was elected and we certainly in Europe have to manage that relationship for the next two or three years. But where he's wrong, Europe should stand up as a strong trading block and tell him he's wrong and stop trying to pander to him and invite him to dinner when he wants to. I don't understand why he needs to own Greenland. It's certainly not for some defense or military reasons because as a member of NATO and Denmark is a member of NATO, I don't think Denmark or Greenland would have any issue if Trump wanted to reopen those bases in Greenland and invest in Greenland. But you don't need to own it for that.

Ireland has no option but to... I mean, Irish neutrality is a joke, much beloved of the left-wing lunatics in this country. You know, we are a defenseless island on the periphery of Europe. We are not able to protect either our skies or the seas off our coast and I think Europe will be running out of patience with Ireland on this. I believe Ireland should be a member of NATO. I think de Valera was historically wrong in the 1950s. You know, we should have joined NATO in 1945 and the late 1940s. We would have developed deep sea submarine ports off the west coast of Ireland. NATO would have built about 25 airports across Ireland and we would have far better infrastructure than we've managed on our own. But de Valera made the chronic mistake to want to be isolationist. Isolationism has never worked. It didn't work in Ireland in the 50s and 60s. Didn't work in North Korea and didn't work in China in the 70s, 80s and 90s either. We live in a world where free trade works. Free trade reduces cost for consumers and increases the wealth of nations and has done so since Adam Smith wrote his treatise in the 1850s. And Ireland needs to wise up. We need to generate much more revenue and we do need to significantly increase our defense spending and I would personally think Ireland should be a member of NATO. I don't know how you can be a member of the European Union and not be a member of NATO because either we're going to support Europe when it's under threat as it is currently in Ukraine. If Putin decides he's going to invade the Baltic states or Finland or Poland, what are we going to do? Oh, sorry, we're neutral. We have to come to the aid and support of our European allies as we should come to the aid and support of our American allies. I have no difficulty with the left-wing loonies whinging about the US using Shannon Airport. Shannon Airport benefits significantly from the US military using Shannon as a stopover point for its troops etc. And we should encourage that. And anything that annoys the looney left in this country should be actively encouraged.

They are moving along at a glacial pace. We have far more pressing things to deal with. I'm already contracted up to 2028 and there's really not much pressure on me or the board to finalize any new arrangements. Like we are dealing with things like the price of oil, Boeing delivery delays. Why can't we get Micheál Martin with a 20-seat majority to scrap a cap at Dublin airport when the Emiratis can double the size of their terminal in five months? Really, my contract falls way down the list of issues that need to be addressed.