Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

When this was offered to people the response was very positive. Deputy Mitchell says that is basic customer care. While I agree it is, it has not always been the case in the past that people did not capitalise on unforeseen events such as volcanic ash. However, this charter is based on how the hospitality industry reacted and responded to people in the past month. We argued as to whether it should be marketed abroad. Unfortunately because Ireland was the first land mass that was affected by the volcanic ash, we were the ones to get the negative publicity on international radio and television, including on CNN and CBS news. We needed to try to counteract that. We certainly will keep it under review. The response from the tour operators has been very positive and I believe it will help us.

The Deputy asked about the departure tax. It is a budgetary and fiscal matter. While it might not be the case in these particular times, Department of Finance estimated it would bring in €125 million.

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