Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I did not do the cost benefit analysis; it was done by the airlines. Obviously, they are trying their best to have the €10 airport departure tax removed. If the tax is causing such grief, perhaps they will examine some of their own charges, for instance, the on-line check in charge of €10 for each leg of a journey, the €5 administration fee for credit cards, priority boarding fees of €5, the €40 charge for reissuing airport boarding cards, infant fees of €20 and checked baggage fees. In light of this incomplete list of airline charges, anyone who seriously expects me to state that the airport departure taxes are the cause of the decline in passenger numbers, he or she is living in cloud cuckoo land.

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