Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I support the motion put forward by Deputy Mitchell. When I first heard the debate about the travel tax, I thought that Ryanair and Aer Lingus were overstating their case. When I met with representatives of both companies, they showed me their figures and the statistics are exceptionally clear that the €10 travel tax has a significant impact on their fares. They showed me how Internet bookings are very price sensitive. While a €10 tax may seem very little, it actually stops people from coming to this country.

The important thing about this motion is that we are concentrating on the Government and on an issue that has a negative impact on our tourism industry. It is time for the Government to think again. Tourism is one of the easiest areas in which new jobs can be created. Tourism also has a significant seasonal impact. Removing the tourist travel tax will lead to a massive spin off and will be inversely proportionate to what is happening now. There will be significant growth in the number of people coming into Ireland to spend more money. There will be a spin off with the creation of new jobs and it will also help the airlines.

The airlines are one thing and the airports are quite another thing. We need to make our airports cheaper for our airlines to use and to make them more attractive and more cost competitive. I am amazed that the Government spent €850,000 for a tendering competition that it never completed to build a second terminal at Dublin Airport. It wasted taxpayers' money in an apparently significant attempt to get competitive tendering to run the airport. A number of multinational companies competed which had access to billions of euro and which employed tens of thousands of people in airports around the world, but the Dublin Airport Authority was fast-tracked outside this competition. The Government decided that none of the competing companies qualified, so the DAA got the contract. The DAA also runs the airports in Cork and in Shannon. It is a fix for the State monopoly, and it is a monopoly that does not make sense. It is shameful that those international companies that entered into this process did not make it to the second stage.

The Government's policies are ossified. There is a State monopoly running our airports and it is losing money hand over fist. It is driving airlines out of this country and Government policy is keeping tourists out. It is an indication of how the Government is out of touch.

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