Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

The Minister, Deputy Hanafin, is not the Minister for Finance, but I will cite her colleague, Deputy Dooley, who stated that she had stature and skill. I suggest she use these to get this insidious tax abolished forthwith, since it is doing so much damage. Other Deputies referred to the example set by the Dutch and other European governments. Statistical evidence suggests the tax does more harm than good, given its cost in terms of revenue lost to the tourism industry. The Minister's tourism renewal group strongly urged the air travel tax's removal. This consultative group was set up by the Government. The chairman of Fáilte Ireland stated that the tax is costing the economy more than €30 million annually. The Minister has plenty of ammunition for the tax's abolition to take to her ministerial colleague.

I am concerned about my region of the mid-west in particular. The tax has had a dramatic effect on Shannon Airport. Michael O'Leary of Ryanair stated he would pull a number of routes out of Shannon mainly because of the travel tax. Unfortunately, he pulled them. We now have little connectivity between Shannon and mainland Europe. We have flights to Britain and across the Atlantic, despite the bad announcements in respect of the latter recently. The travel tax has had a significant adverse influence on Shannon Airport in particular. The reduction in traffic through it is greater than at Dublin or Cork Airport.

My colleague, Proinsias De Rossa, MEP, has been informed by EU transport Commissioner, Siim Kallas, that the latter is examining the travel tax and may believe it to be in breach of EU rules. I hope it is in breach and that the Government will be forced to withdraw it, but I would prefer the Government to withdraw it voluntarily, given the negative effect the tax is having on tourism, particularly in the mid-west region.

I wish to refer to one or two other matters. I understand that the EU will next week issue a tourism policy on marketing the EU. It describes the European tourism image as an ensemble. In other words, the policy will market Europe. This is a significant step and I would like Ireland to play a leading role. I have the Asian market in particular in mind. In Deputy Upton's policy document on behalf of the Labour Party, she singles out the potential within the Asian market, given the large size of its population. Many Asian people visit Ireland, but one sees hordes of tourists from the East in European capitals. We need them to visit Ireland. We need to grow the Irish tourism product in Asia, as that is where the great potential for the future lies. I urge that we take a lead in the European concept so that, while tourists might visit Paris or Rome, they would also visit Ireland. We need to be in that loop.

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