There are, as always, two sides to every story. And I am not an expert, nor do I claim to have any more knowledge other than what I have read on here about Ryanair or the industry in general.
Both Ryanair and Journalists are frequent targets for 'bashing' here, due in no small part to the fact that this is a website for pilots and like all professions they have an agenda, which is frequently at odds with the agenda of the aforementioned. Mr O'Leary's agenda is to maximise Ryanair's profits, and to protect the
PR interests of the company from bad publicity that could affect profits. C4's agenda is to put out programming that will be both balanced and factual
and entertaining to Joe Public, and as we know those two are often mutually exclusive. However, if C4 have uncovered company practices that are unscrupulous, or worse, compromise safety, then it is in the public interest that their findings are published.
There is no doubt that MOL has done extremely well at Ryanair, from the 'bottom line' perspective, and no doubt also that there is a great deal of ill feeling towards him among staff, some of which looks to me to be entirely justified. He runs the company in a 'bottom line' style, and while this undoubtedly achieves the goal of getting short term profits up and keeping shareholders happy, I'm not at all convinced it's the best way to secure a company's future from the long-term perspective. An unhappy workforce is bad for business, staff turnover will be higher, costs of recruiting and training new staff will always offset the benefits gained from slashing costs and in doing so causing unrest in the way that MOL appears to have done at Ryanair.
MOL has made a fortune out of Ryanair, the Sunday Times Rich List 2005 estimated his wealth at £297 million. When he presides over a company notorious for low pay and workforce bullying, I can't help but think that there is something wrong, and moreover that as a member of the public (and potential Ryanair customer), I have a right to know about what goes on in the company, and that's why I will be watching C4's documentary tomorrow. Maybe it would be better for all to actually watch the programme first before passing judgment on it. But reading excellent and well informed posts like Jetlegs' only makes me more intrigued to see what really did happen when C4 sent undercover journalists inside. The evidence that they have will no doubt be sensationalised to some degree (that's the job of the journalist, they have to sell advertising space and get viewing ratings up the way airlines have to sell seats.)
As for "If they were genuinely unsafe, the IAA or the CAA would have jumped all over them by now." - a one word answer: Valujet.