I thank the Ceann Comhairle for permitting me to raise this matter. I appreciate that the Minister has come into the House to respond.
The prospectus which was issued by Ryanair at the time of its flotation states:
Since 1992, Ryanair Limited has rented its corporate headquarters at Dublin Airport from Darley Investments Limited ("Darley') at an annual rental of £200,000 per annum. Darley developed the site at Dublin Airport under a 30 year licence on land from Ireland's Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. Ryanair Limited provided loan facilities to Darley to develop the site. From the period of its incorporation (1988) to 31 March 1996 the share capital of Darley was held by CDS Trust, a trust established for the benefit of C. M. Ryan, D. F. Ryan, S. T. Ryan and their children. Darley became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ryanair Limited during the year ended 31 March 1996. The building is included in fixed assets in the consolidated balance sheet at a net book value of £1,330,000. The annual rental payable by the group to the Minister is £192,000, but payment of the rent is suspended for the first 12 years of the agreement and Darley will receive a 50 per cent rebate on the rent for six years thereafter.
This was a remarkable sweetheart deal between the then Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications and the "round robin" circle of companies in the Ryanair family. Irrespective of who built the Ryanair building or what will happen the building after the 30 years, the fact remains that Ryanair got a 30 year licence on a valuable State owned site at Dublin Airport, the company has it rent free for 12 years and at half rent for six years, and the deal amounts to a £3 million subsidy from the Irish taxpayers.
I ask the Minister to publish the terms and text of the agreement which was made in 1992. Who proposed the arrangement? Who approved it? What advice did the then Minister get on this deal? Did the then Minister seek the opinion of the Valuation Office, and what was its view? This site belongs to the people who have a right to know the precise basis on which Ryanair has subsidised use of it until 2010.
The issue of the Ryanair site, taken with the information which the Minister has already given to the House about valuable rebates worth £12 million which were made available to Ryanair, raises serious questions about the relationship between the State and Ryanair since its foundation. Ryanair has always pretended — even in its advertising today — that it is the little airline pitted against the might of the State. It is now gradually emerging that Ryanair has received considerable assistance from the State in direct payment and in kind. It is in the public's interest to know the full extent of all State assistance to Ryanair.
I call on the Minister to have conducted and to publish an audit of all State aid of any kind to Ryanair. In particular, I ask her to publish the promotional assistance, in cash or in kind, which has been provided to Ryanair, and to publish if Ryanair has been provided with preferential arrangements at Pier A in Dublin Airport and if this resulted from a departmental or ministerial instruction. I also want to know the full details of all ministerial and departmental instructions given to Aer Rianta to assist Ryanair over the years.
I ask for this information because Ryanair, in its dispute with its baggage handlers, has adopted a particularly dismissive attitude to the State's institutions, and it is behaving recklessly towards the social partnership on which the country's collective economic well-being is based.
The public have a right to know the extent to which this private company has benefited from the taxpayers. Indeed, the EU Commission, which is normally so vigilant about matters of competition and State aids to economic activity, should also be apprised of the full extent of the State's benevolence to this company.