Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin, is on his way to Cuba. He will pay an entry and departure tax of €25 to visit poor old Fidel's country. The departure tax is a penalty that should not be in place.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus both have weight limits of so many kilograms. Once one exceeds a limit of 8 kg, 10 kg or whatever it may be, one pays a penalty. Is anyone checking the readings from the weighing machines? Recently, I acquired clear evidence of a bag's weight differing by 2 kg or 3 kg when weighed by two different companies. Who is policing the charges? Does the Department have a nominated person to check whether the weighing scales are correct? In many cases, they are not.

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