Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cuffe, and wish him well in his portfolio. The Fine Gael motion informs us that visitor numbers to Ireland decreased last year, and nobody is denying that. However, that decrease is not a result of the travel tax, which is a departure tax and applies to flights out of the country.

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