Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

On the empowerment of the Minister to revoke the travel tax, the thrust of the amendment which I put forward and which was ruled out of order was to seek a reassurance that the ministerial order revoking the travel tax is issued on the basis of a clear commitment from the airlines, first, that the abolition of the travel tax will not be offset by an increase in fares, in other words, that the reduction will be passed on to customers by way of a reduced overall fare price and, second, that the abolition would be directly linked to a commitment entered into by the airlines with the Minister that they will increase the capacity and the number of passengers they bring to Ireland, which is the purpose of the proposal to abolish the travel tax. I seek reassurance from the Minister that the tax will not be abolished without any subsequent benefit materialising.

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