O’Leary said Muslim men are more likely to be ‘bombers’.
Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, has been criticised for claiming terrorists “will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion”.
In an interview with The Times newspaper on Saturday, O’Leary made controversial statements which has led to accusations of racism.
The 58-year-old is quoted as saying young children should be waved through airport security because there was almost zero chance of them being bombers.
“Who are the bombers? They are going to be single males travelling on their own,” he said.
“You can’t say stuff, because it’s racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion. Thirty years ago it was the Irish.”
He reportedly went on to say that profiling of Muslim families doesn’t have to be as strict as lone Muslim men travellers because “the chances [they] are going to blow them all up is zero.”
A spokeswoman for the Muslim Council of Britain said Michael O’Leary’s comments are racist and discriminatory.
“He openly advocates discrimination against ‘males of a Muslim persuasion’, which presumably is not based on specific intelligence but solely whether someone ‘looks or acts like a Muslim’.
“This is the very definition of Islamophobia.”
In a bid to play down the offence caused, Ryanair assured its boss’ remarks were taken out of context.
A Ryanair spokesman told Sky News that O’Leary’s statements were “simply inaccurate.”
“Michael was only calling for more effective airport security checks which would do away with much of the unnecessary queues at airport security today for all passengers,” he said.
O’Leary is no stranger to controversial remarks.
In 2005, he said: “The best thing you can do with environmentalists is shoot them.”
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