Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

A person travelling within the UK, for example, will be liable to pay the UK air passenger duty of £10 or €12.65 on each leg of the journey. For example, a passenger departing from Manchester to London will be subject to the £10 tax and on the return journey departing from London to Manchester that passenger will also be subject to the £10 tax, giving a total tax liability of £20 or approximately €25. In Ireland, a person travelling within the State will be liable to pay €2 in tax on each leg of the journey, giving a total tax liability of €4. Furthermore, both the UK and Dutch rates in respect of longer flights are more than two and four times higher respectively than the Irish rate.

The Government acknowledges that low cost travel has been good for Ireland. The pioneers in this area deserve to be commended. However, we must, in analysing the new tax, not overplay its impact. For the purpose of illustration, at present a fare from Shannon to London Stansted Airport that is initially presented as €10 with a similar €10 return fare will actually cost a passenger €85 when all charges are included. This assumes no luggage is checked in, which would cost more. Included in the €85 is a €5 credit card handling fee per flight segment. This latter practice has been the subject of much criticism by consumer bodies. Assuming fares remained the same the price of this trip would rise to €95 on foot of the new tax.

A person flying from London Stansted to Shannon, or indeed from any airport in the UK to Ireland, is already paying, through the airlines, £10 or €12.65 in air passenger duty to the UK Exchequer. Airlines do not appear to have any difficulty in applying the UK air passenger duty.

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