A High Court judge has accused Ryanair of entirely unattractive behaviour and of using disreputable tactics against the Dublin Airport Authority.
The claim was made by Mr Justice Peter Kelly while hearing an application by the DAA in the Commercial Court seeking payment from Ryanair for interest on unpaid fees and charges.
The court heard that earlier this month, Ryanair initially refused to pay the DAA around €8.4m in airport charges and fees which it owed for August and September for Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports.
This happened after the DAA told the airline that they had to sign a lease agreement for self-service passenger check-in kiosks which Ryanair intends to install in Dublin airport.
The court was told that the day after legal proceedings were issued by the DAA seeking payment of the €8.4m, Ryanair paid the DAA €7.7m.
Ryanair later paid a further €500,000, clearing the debt.
But it still owes the DAA €57,000 in interest on the delayed payments.
Today, the DAA applied to have the case entered on the list for judgement in the Commercial Court.
Counsel for Ryanair argued that every other airline had been allowed install the kiosks without charge and denied claims by the DAA that its non-payment of charges was part of an ongoing campaign of withholding payment.
But Mr Justice Kelly said the issue of the kiosks was not relevant to today's claim and said Ryanair had been engaging in brinksmanship.
He asked why Ryanair had not paid its debts when it owed them and said he was not going to allow the court's time to be wasted.
The airline had only settled its debts when faced with court this morning, he said.
He accused Ryanair of disreputable tactics and said the court sets its face against this type of tactic.
He also issued a judgement against Ryanair for the €57,000 of interest owed by it.
Meanwhile, Ryanair is expected to seek a separate High Court injunction tomorrow in relation to the kiosks.
