Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport the specific commitments which he has received from air carriers to open new routes and expand capacity as a result of the removal of the remaining €3 of the travel tax. [18898/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In line with the commitments in the programme for Government, the Government announced a three-pronged strategy to encourage in-bound tourism as part of the jobs initiative. The first element is the proposed suspension of the air travel tax, the second is a new growth incentive scheme which has been introduced by the Dublin Airport Authority applying to all of the three airports under its remit and the third is more targeted and co-operative marketing of new routes from key source tourism markets by Tourism Ireland, the DAA and airlines to encourage more tourists to fly into Ireland.

My officials and I have engaged with the Dublin Airport Authority and with the four main Irish airlines about these initiatives and I wrote to all of the other airlines operating services to and from the State airports. Some proposals for additional capacity and new routes put forward are being examined by my Department and by external consultants to assess their potential impact. I await the outcome of that assessment and responses from other airlines before making a recommendation to my Cabinet colleagues on whether to suspend the tax. The recent enactment of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2011 has provided that basis for the suspension of the air travel tax if we decide to do so.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Is it the case that the €3 travel tax will remain in place until the Minister has received what he or the Cabinet believe to be an adequate assurance from the bulk of the airlines that they will come forward with a proposal that satisfies the Minister?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The tax remains in place. The order has not been signed. In the jobs initiative it was pencilled in for 1 July. That date has passed because I have not been comfortable in advising the Minister for Finance that the responses have been sufficient. There are meetings ongoing with the airlines. There will be another meeting on Monday next. I hope in the next few weeks to be in a position to give advice to the Minister for Finance. Where it may arise, is that some airlines may increase capacity and others may cut it. That creates a certain dilemma. I do not wish to punish the ones that are increasing capacity but one cannot apply one tax to one airline and another to the other one. I should be in a position to make a determination at a later stage.

Certainly, I do not want to take away the travel tax and then find that most or all of the airlines end up cutting routes in the winter. That would be a mistake.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I do not want to gild the lily or overstate the obvious, but it is clear at this stage that we are well into the tourism season. While I welcome elements of the Minister's initiative in a focus on attracting tourists to Ireland, in terms of the capacity to assist in that regard we are nearly past the date that it would be of benefit for this year. I urge the Minister, and particularly his officials in their interaction with the airlines, to bring this matter to a head.

I note the Minister's comments that while they have engaged, they have failed to get broad agreement or agreement that the Minister finds acceptable in order to lift the tax. That is something with which we all were familiar in that some of these airlines in the past have made public comment about what they would do if certain conditions were provided to them and they are relatively slow or tardy in 'fessing up to that on the other side. I would like to see it progress as quickly as possible because we need to enhance in whatever way we can the level of tourism coming through.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The discussions are ongoing. They certainly have not yet concluded. The real issue arises around the schedules for the winter and for next spring. It is in the next few weeks that the airlines will determine their schedules for the winter. What they do will be the best test of whether they have responded not what they say.

In the event that it does not go ahead for the winter schedules, there is always the possibility of doing it in the spring or using the moneys to promote tourism in another way or to promote flights in another way. I definitely do not want to give the airlines something for nothing. I am not prepared to do that with taxpayers' money.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome that approach.