Ryanair, Ireland’s favourite airline, today (Mon, 5 Jan) called on Ireland’s “Do Nothing” Taoiseach Micheál “Marco Polo” Martin to stop wasting time getting his photo taken, and instead deliver on his year-old Govt Programme, which promised to scrap the Dublin Airport cap “as soon as possible“.

This week Micheál “Marco Polo” Martin is “on tour” again. This is a man with more overseas engagements than Elton John. He’s visiting China this week, having in the last 12 months been to the COP conference in Brazil, the G20 in South Africa, a “jobs” mission in Angola (which delivered zero jobs), together with multiple trips to Brussels. He wastes more time outside the country on tour, than he does in the country delivering his Govt Programme.

If Micheál Martin is serious about creating jobs, then he would scrap the Dublin Airport cap, which will deliver thousands of new jobs, while his oversea tours to China and Angola deliver none.

While Micheál Martin wastes time on international travel his Govt with a 20-seat majority, delivers nothing here at home. Despite a Govt Programme published in Jan 2025, which promised to scrap the Dublin Airport cap “as soon as possible”, absolutely nothing has been done to implement this change. A “paper” was brought to Cabinet in Sept, and still nothing has happened in the subsequent 5 months. January marks a 12-month anniversary of his Programme for Govt and still, despite a 20-seat majority, no action has been taken to scrap the Dublin Airport cap.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“Micheál “Marco Polo” Martin claims his overseas tours deliver jobs – they don’t! All they deliver is more photos of Micheál Martin glad handing world leaders, while nothing is done at home about real job creation, despite his Govts 20-seat majority.

We welcome this weekend’s Sunday Independent poll, which shows that 66% of readers were in favour of scrapping the Dublin Airport cap. Micheál “Marco Polo” Martin promised to scrap this cap “as soon as possible”, yet 12 months later nothing has been done. He’s too busy travelling the world getting his photo taken, while failing to deliver his Govt Programme here at home. It’s time for Micheál Martin to stop touring and start delivering, and a good place to start would be scrapping the illegal Dublin Airport cap before the end of Jan 2026. This will enable the airlines, led by Ryanair and US airlines, to add routes, services, and new jobs for summer 2026, and this might open up even more overseas travel opportunities for “Marco Polo” Martin.

Jan 2026 is the time for this “Do Nothing” Taoiseach to deliver on his Programme for Govt, and scrap the cap before the end of Jan, which would be 12 months after his Govt with a 20-seat majority, promised to scrap it “as soon as possible“.