By Paddy Clancy

THE government has been blamed for paving the way for swashbuckling Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary to bid for control of recently-privatized Aer Lingus.

With his intentions carefully concealed — indeed, he denied any interest in even having a seat on the board — O’Leary and his Ryanair company bought up almost 20% of the former state-owned airline in the first week of its flotation.

Small stockholders who bought in at the opening bottom price of $2.80 per share were more than 30% richer within a week with the Ryanair intervention that pushed share values above $3.53.

O’Leary then admitted that he aimed to gain 50.1% of the stock and outright control of Aer Lingus.

The proposed moved prompted a combination of applause and panic. There were cheers from some shareholders who were suddenly considerably richer than they had anticipated. But there was also fear that jobs and competition in the airline industry were at risk.

Columnist Kevin Myers was among the main cheerleaders, writing in the Irish Independent: “There were two sets of responses to Michael O’Leary’s raid on Aer Lingus. The first was of the twitchy, neurotic, haven’t-had-a-bowel-movement-in-a-year statists like that of Martin Cullen (transport minister) who mumbled some astounding gibberish about monopolies, consumer interests, grave issues, et cetera, before sticking straws in his hair and reverting to the Swahili he usually favors.”

Myers continued, “For the rest of us, it was the joy of finally seeing the state monolith humbled by the most liberating force Irish capitalism has seen since the foundation of this state — Ryanair.”

Fergus Finlay, former advisor to Dick Spring when he was a Labor Tanaiste, claimed O’Leary was able to make his bid because the government got the price “woefully wrong.”

“They got it wrong by the price of a couple of hospitals,” Finlay added.

Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion cut short a U.S. holiday to deal with what many regarded as a new crisis facing the company.

Political and trade union critics blamed the government for easing the way for O’Leary by selling off a fifth of its own 35% holding within a day instead of maintaining its full stake for at least a month as many experts predicted it would.

Labor’s transport spokesman Roisin Shortall said, “Unfortunately, our national airline has become a plaything of the business community. Martin Cullen needs to explain why the share price was so low and outline his plans for heading off Ryanair’s attempt to take over the company.”

Fine Gael European Parliament member Gay Mitchell said he had asked the EU competition commissioner to examine the Ryanair bid.