Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the problems faced by musicians who need to bring their instruments with them onboard aircraft; his plans to work with his EU partners to address these problems which are an inconvenience to professionals trying to earn a living. [30264/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The aviation market in the EU was fully liberalised in 1992 and the operation of the internal market is governed by common rules which were updated in 2008 and are set out in EU Regulation (EC) 1008/2008 which is directly applicable in Ireland and other Member States. Therefore airlines are not subject to regulation in areas such as the setting of fares, other charges, routes to fly, etc. and the decision to charge a passenger for the transport of a musical instrument is at the sole discretion of each airline. Furthermore, European Regulations in the area of airline operations allow airlines to establish their own procedures for the stowage of baggage and cargo, subject to certain conditions relating to safety and security.