Ryanair and Gigginstown House Stud boss Michael O'Leary hit by cream pie in climate change protest

Ryanair and Gigginstown House Stud chief Michael O’Leary was greeted with a unique dairy ‘welcome’ in Brussels on Thursday.

O’Leary was holding a one-man protest outside the European Commission against the air traffic controllers’ strikes affecting his Irish airline when two climate protesters approached him.

A “Welcome to Belgium” comment was followed by the protesters planting two cream pies to the face of O’Leary.

O’Leary laughed off the stunt, and when asked by reporters outside the European Commission about the incident, he said: “We’re here to discuss the petition. I love cream cakes – they’re my favourite.”

Ryanair’s X feed certainly made fun of the incident, with one of their four posts reading: “Warm welcome in Brussels today to celebrate RYR’s seven new routes for Winter 23. Passengers so happy with our routes and petition that they’re celebrating with cake. We’ve got tasty low fares!”

Another tweet read: “Shame it was soy-based cream, definitely not as tasty as the real stuff.”

O’Leary handed in a petition with 1.5 million signatures for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, calling for the EU to stop preventing airlines from flying over countries during air traffic control strikes, which has caused significant disruption this year.

Michael O'Leary and Davy Russell kiss and make up at Cheltenham

The Gigginstown owner was in the news during the Cheltenham Festival in March after criticising Davy Russell’s decision to come out of retirement, saying he was “not putting his family first”.

Those comments irked Russell, who responded in an interview with ITV. He said: “I have about as much respect for Michael O’Leary’s opinion as he has for my opinion. I didn’t see any father of the year awards being thrown out yet and I’m happy enough with my responsibilities at home.”

Gigginstown reunited with multiple champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins last season, six years on from one of the most high-profile break-ups in Irish racing history.

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