Clare Haven Says Michael O'Leary Comments "Re-Traumatise" Rape Survivors

0:00Well, I mean, it really tells us that he is a master as getting attention and here we are talking about him again. He is just looking for attention to his issues and to his concerns, but he is using the completely inappropriate language to do so. He does not, or maybe he does and doesn't mind, but I am hoping he does not realize the triggering effect using such language to describe something like a business issue. It diminishes the concept of rape, but it also triggers so many people who are living with the experience of having this happen to them or having this happen to a loved one. And it can cause great obsession and unnecessary obsession because there are many, many words that we can use to describe what he is describing, which is some business issue that he's being affected or his company is being affected by at the moment. But is it really necessary to harm other people who have nothing to do with airlines or airports or if no, whatever the current issue that he is unhappy with is that really necessary and it's something he and Ryan air as a company, I would imagine need to reflect on and need to consider the impact that they are having in what's possibly a throw away comment and then a building down in justification.

1:25And the consequences that is having on people who are absolutely immune and nothing to do with airlines and airports etc. And when he was asked if the comment was appropriate and when he essentially doubled down on it, what he said was that he basically wasn't bothered about offending like civil of Tanzan or their airlines. Clearly, his focus here is on the business context of that remark, but as you mentioned, you don't believe he knows the damage of what he is doing to survivors, would you call on him to apologize? I don't know if an apology is really necessary because he is in his own head is in the place of his business and his sector and that's where his focus is on. So, I mean, then it was an apology would achieve, I don't know, the damage is done, but it's also shows that it's so typical of being so, so close, but still not getting it. And we often hear men, other men as well describe another company or another person who's taking advantage of them as rape.

2:27And there is a clear understanding in society that rape is harmful, that it is about exerting power over another, it is about taking advantage of and humiliating in another. But it seems it's only when it comes to when a woman says that she has been raped, that that's when people begin to say, oh well, no, it's not really that bad. Oh well, what were you doing about this? I mean, who's going to ask his company, what was he wearing or what were they wearing or what do they do to bring this answer themselves? What are they, what are they done to blame themselves for a really tragic word, I suppose, to use in regards to this concept, because it is a word that does not belong in discussing economies or businesses or the latest issue at the, our e-dix that's being sent out by an airport, but it very much is part of the sector that I'm part of the domestic sexual agenda based violence sector. And it's very much a harrowing, a horrific experience that predominantly women and children have to go through in society because of the very same concept of people just throwing around the word.

3:35So as I said, it's a matter of him being so, so close, not him particularly, but people who use the phrase, but just still not getting it when it really matches and the consequences and impact of it having on those who are, you know, actually going about their day and then hearing this word being used in such a way to undermine and diminish their experience.