Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I understand where the Minister is coming from. He has had the support of all sides of the House on the amendment that was tabled on Committee Stage, in terms of devising a way in which we can eliminate hidden charges and have more transparency in costs associated with transactions. The travel industry, however, as was made clear to me and I am sure to the Minister of State, is not like an airline. It is an intermediary body for the purpose of providing a service for consumers. A good deal of business is now being done on-line, and the travel industry is under pressure because of that. It is the same in the insurance industry. The capacity to move completely to a cashless payments system, however, is still not in place to the extent that it should be, perhaps. Nevertheless, this decision, which perhaps we did not tease out as much as we should on Committee Stage, will have an impact on this particular sector. As it was brought to the attention of the Minister of State, I should have thought we might have found a way to accommodate within the spirit of what the section, as amended, purported to do, the specific nature of the business involved in the travel industry. If there is an opportunity before the Bill finally passes in which this can be achieved, it is worthy of further consideration.

See this speech in context