Former Miss World Rosanna Davison has said she was absolutely shocked at the content of a Ryanair release, which she claims defamed her by alleging she had made comments which bordered on racism.
Ms Davison, 27, with an address at Cornelscourt in Dublin, is suing Ryanair in the High Court and gave evidence in the action today.
Ryanair denies defamation, claiming the release was fair comment in response to remarks by Ms Davison about the absence of Irish female cabin crew members from the airline's charity calendar featuring female cabin crew in bikinis.
Giving evidence, Ms Davison said she had received an unsolicited call from an Irish Independent journalist, who asked her what she thought about the fact there were no Irish women in the Ryanair calendar.
The leading model said she had given what she thought was a normal, honest, inane and diplomatic answer.
When she learned the following day the content of the Ryanair release responding to her comments, she was shocked and thought it was some sort of set-up.
She said she had a feeling of disbelief and shock at the suggestion in the release that she may have been jealous, as she applauded anyone who put themselves out there for charity.
Ms Davison said she was absolutely shocked and most upset at the use of the words "racism" and "elitist attitude" in the release.
She said she did not know how they could have been used in the context of what she said, as she knew nothing about the ratio of nationalities of Ryanair staff.
The court heard that it is a serious issue to be called a racist, especially given the charity work she had done all over the world in her capacity as Miss World.
Ms Davison said the suggestion in the release that she was "narrow-minded" left her dumb-founded and insulted, as all she had done was give her opinion based on the minimal information given to her by the journalist.
She said she would never want to insult anyone or take anyone out of the running to be in a calendar because they were not Irish. She also said she did not know so many nationalities had been involved in the selection process for the calendar.
Ms Davison said she was also full of disbelief at what she claimed to be the aggressive response from Ryanair to her solicitor's first letter to it, which sought an apology and the payment of substantial damages to the Simon Community.
She said Ryanair's claim in that letter that her comments had been stupid, ill-considered and silly were juvenile, disrespectful and downright rude and did not take into consideration that she had an opinion.
Ms Davison said she was pretty amazed that three years on, the release is still on the Ryanair website.
Under cross-examination by senior counsel Martin Hayden for Ryanair, she denied that she played up to the media.
However, she admitted that it was part of her job to ensure that products she promoted land in the papers.
Asked why when she did not know anything about Ryanair or the calendar she saw fit to comment, Ms Davison said she had given her opinion, which she thought was not a criticism.
She added that she thought her remarks were well considered, diplomatic and measured and she respected the Irish Independent.
The case continues on Tuesday before a jury of eight men and four women.
