Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has declared the Irish general election "a mess" as he voiced concerns over how the economy would cope without "political stability" at the launch of Ryanair's winter services in Belfast this morning.

The head honcho at the low-fare airline also predicted that the Irish electorate would be returning to the polls within a year.

Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, he said:
"Ireland, given the fragile nature of our economy, can’t survive with either a minority government or a coalition of liquorice all-sorts. We need a stable government and I think we won’t get one based on the results last weekend."

O'Leary predicted that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail would fail to form a coalition and decried the economic policies offered on the left of the Irish political system.

"You have the radical left, the Shinners, and some of the other lunatics out there, and actually Ireland might be better served by having a right-left debate, so that instead of the left sitting there in opposition but being against everything , they’d have to come up with some credible economic policies, of which they have none at the moment."

In terms of his O'Leary's business, Ryanair have launched seven brand new routes in Belfast. People will be able to fly to Berlin, Milan, Alicante and Milan from September and Lanzarote, Krakow, and Tenerife from October.

Further services from their new base at Belfast International Airport will be added in the coming months.