Ryanair has begun court proceedings against The Irish Airline Pilots Associations (IALPA) in an effort to stop what it says is an organised campaign of harassment and intimidation being conducted through a Web site.
"In addition to threatening and intimidating Ryanair pilots, this Web site has also published specific threats of criminal activities which have been the source of a formal complaint to the Garda Siochana ," Ryanair said in a statement.
The Irish Airline Pilots Associations (IALPA) and its British equivalent formed a group last year to represent pilots at Ryanair in an effort to secure greater trade union membership at the company.
Ryanair's Director of Personnel, Eddie Wilson said they would not allow their staff to become the victims of an organised campaign of intimidation.
He said the High Court proceedings would be pursued until they identify those individuals making what he described as "threats, some of which include suggestions of criminal activity".
He said this was not the first time Ryanair's employees had been victims of intimidation by members of trade unions at Dublin Airport, but said they intended to make certain as a result of these High Court proceedings that it is the last.
IALPA President Evan Cullen rejected any suggestion that any of their officials was engaged in any intimidation of any party.
He said they had written to Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary some weeks ago, proposing three options for investigating intimidation in Ryanair: an investigation assisted by the Irish Aviation Authority, a similar investigation chaired by the Labour Relations Commission, and a High Court inspector.
He said that so far, Mr. O'Leary had not indicated if he was prepared to accept any of these options.
He said that IALPA would give full and transparent cooperation to any third party investigation into intimidation of Ryanair pilots.
