Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am sure the Minister is sick of hearing me talk about the airport departure tax, which I have referred to at every available opportunity since its introduction. On each occasion I raise it with the Minister, he tells me that people he has spoken to abroad and in Ireland are of the view that it is not having an impact on tourism. That is because the impact is on the airlines. The tax is not charged to travellers but is absorbed by the airlines, to the tune of €91 million to date. Most of that sum has been collected from the two largest Irish airlines, Aer Lingus and Ryanair. Whatever about the latter, Aer Lingus can no longer continue to absorb a tax of that magnitude, which is merely adding to the company's losses.

Deputy Upton referred to the chart we received from Mr. Michael O'Leary and which is no doubt drawn with a particular story to tell. However, there is no denying that Ireland is suffering far more than anywhere else in terms of loss of capacity. Important as that is, the tragic aspect is that we lost 24 destinations in the last year. That is catastrophic for the industry. The new chief executive officer of Tourism Ireland spoke last week at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs about the body's new promotion campaign in Germany. The Minister has said it is important to maintain the marketing budget, but what is the point of marketing if people cannot get here? The chief executive officer told the committee that just as he was about to launch the marketing plan, he discovered that eight destinations included in the plan no longer offered flights to Ireland. This is more important than any other issue. If tourists cannot get to Ireland, all the marketing in the world is for nought. People are not willing to make two or three flight connections to get here.

See this speech in context