A High Court judge has again sharply criticised the conduct of Ryanair in court proceedings over airport charges.
'The truth and Ryanair are uncomfortable bedfellows,' said Mr Justice Peter Kelly as he dismissed an application by the airline for judicial review proceedings.
The judge said Ryanair's conduct in the proceedings fell far below what the court was entitled to expect and referred to what the court had been told was 'Ryanair's ingrained culture of disrespect for process'.
Mr Justice Kelly also said that Ryanair had told 'untruths to the court, untruths about the court and untruths about the Minister' in the proceedings.
Earlier this year, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary had to apologise to the court for what the judge described as 'lies' about him in a letter to Transport Minister Noel Dempsey.
In his ruling today Mr Justice Kelly said Michael O O'Leary had misrepresented the minister's position on the setting up of an appeal panel on charges both to the court and in a press release.
Ryanair had sought leave to seek judicial review proceedings against the Commission for Aviation Regulation on airport charges.
The judge said that, in a sworn statement, Ryanair had itself described the appeals panel as the best system to air grievances over airport charges. He remarked that 'rarely does one find a party making such a comprehensive case against itself'. He dismissed the application for leave to seek judicial review..
Ryanair said it was considering appealing the judgement, as it said the Aviation Appeals Panel had ruled that the CAR's charges determination for Dublin Airport for 2010-2014 was flawed.
