LETTER SENT TO IAA,Irish Airline Pilots' Association,BALPA and Ryanair European Pilots' Association..

Dear Irish Aviation Authority,
We are a campaign ryanairdontcare that deals with the wrongs of recruitment and termination on probationary ryanair cabin crew.

(We have terminated and present cabin crew at ryanair in contact with our campaign and some facts are given to us from present cabin crew at ryanair.
The message below is very concerning with regards safety on board ryanair flight,to which i would hope,as you are the Aviation Authority in Ireland and ryanair are a registered in Ireland.you would act on this message below which was sent to ryanairdontcare.


(To whom may concern,

I'm currently crew contracted to Ryanair via Workforce International Contractors.When I went to the interview I asked a very specific question,as anyone would,what was the average salary?The staff giving us the talk told me that it would be £1000-1200 after tax.
I was rather excited by this,so I pressed on and accepted the the offer for training.The training cost including accommodation was €2700 plus €200 deposit at the start of the course.As I was informed that my wages would be £1000+ I took the 'training loan' offered by Dalmac(Workforces client training school),the loan covered all costs of the course and would be deducted from my wages on a monthly basis for 11 months.All students had to open a new loan account with AIB Rush branch,even if you already had a AIB current account else where in Ireland or if you were paying on your own accord.

Unfortunately once we started working for Workforce International the reality was a lot different to what we were promised,in terms of salary.Within my first 6 months my salary averaged after tax £732,then on top of this they began deducting my loan repayments direct from my wages in my second month.I also had to pay for my uniform which was a further £25,so all in all from the £732 I was averaging I had £291 + £25 taken directly from my wages.

After my third month I was in severe financial difficulties due to the fact that my base was 'over crewed' and we were given roughly 40 hours p/m to work with.We complained and complained to Workforce International that we were suffering terrible due to the lack of hours available to us,but they kept on sending new crew to the base ensuring that the few hours available were even further divided which added to our woes!

I struggled to feed myself for months,I sold most of my posses ions,including my laptop just so I could afford my rent and be able to commute to work.The only thoughts in my head day in and day out for months was,my personal finances,wages,rent,food it was an extremely difficult time dealing with all these worries due to the fact that Ryanair had put in a position of being given next to no hours,but yet 'fleeching' us to pay back the 'training loan'.I asked Workforce to reduce my loan repayments so I could better survive on the hours we were given,but they refused,even though they knew that we were coming out with £400/500 to live on,pay rent with,feed ourselves and commute work with.
They didn't even make any effort to help us with our situation,we were left to our own devices in a foreign country,struggling to survive.I contacted AIB directly to ask them about an extension on my loan,or reduce my repayments to something more manageable,but I had no access to the account and could not change any part of it.

The training loan offered to students is given with no financial background checks done,the loan is given on the basis that you will earn €17,750 in your first year.But all these facts are completely wrong the fact of it is,that the loan is given to students without any consideration whatsoever to there ability to be able to repay the loan without sacrificing your mental health (Depression)and general welfare.It has been a very dark part of my life and has left me further in debt due to further borrowing to survive.
Students are offered no protection whatsoever should they be unable to work,or be given no work whatsoever.I tried to get partial unemployment benefits to help survive,but due to Ryanairs nature of keeping cabin crew on 3/4 p/w, unpaid standbys at home you are still technically in "Full Time" employment and are entitled to nothing.We worked on average p/w 10 hours,but yet were granted a nearly €3,000 loan!Had I have applied for loan under these circumstances to any other banking establishment,I would have been due to the fact that I could not physically repay the loan without inherent risks on defaulting.Ryanair and agents are benefiting financially so much through us.

At this present time myself and many more probationary cabin crew at ryanair are depressed and no one will help us.The safety of board ryanair flights could be in jeopardy as a result of how we, as cabin crew feel...

Ryanair cabin crew.
Thank you very much for your time,)


I would hope the IAA would look into these issues to which cabin crew have said above.Talking to ryanair with regards these issues,cabin crew feel unable to do with fear of TERMINATION.

I have also informed you with regards the uniform issue of terminated crew,which makes many ryanair uniforms and airport ID cards available in the public domain and could be used to gain access to ryanair aircraft.This is a very serious safety and security issue to which you have never replied to.
Information will now be sent to the Irish press,showing them details of correspondences i have sent to you,with out a response or action being taken from the IAA.

Yours sincerely


John Foley
Ryanairdontcare Campaign.

John Said,
The IAA must act NOW..The pilot unions must do more....