Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has engaged with airlines to ascertain if they will provide special offers to persons willing to come here for the Gathering; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51441/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The market for air services in and out of Ireland is highly competitive with a very significant number of airlines operating.  The market for air services within the EU has been liberalised since the early 1990s and the market between the EU and the US was liberalised under the EU-US Open Skies agreement in 2007.  It is not open to me or to other Governments to interfere in pricing in the market; airlines are completely free to set their own fares based on their own commercial judgements.

 I have been particularly pleased by recent announcements by a number of the US airlines of additional services and routes into Ireland next year, for example, American Airlines’ new Dublin/New York service, United Airlines’ new Shannon/Chicago service and US Airways Shannon-Philadelphia service.  This  is very welcome in the context of 'The Gathering Ireland 2013' 

I am also engaging with a number of airlines to see what further initiatives or measures can be taken to support ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’. Tourism Ireland, the agency with responsibility for the overseas promotion of Ireland as a tourist destination, continues to invest in cooperative marketing activity with airlines and ferry providers. This activity has a strong focus on ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’ and advertising campaigns are already underway with Aer Lingus and Ryanair highlighting good value fares to Ireland from a number of markets and carrying “The Gathering Ireland” message. This activity will continue throughout 2013.