Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update in relation to the offer that was made to abolish the €3 air travel tax; if he will provide details in tabular form of the changes in numbers to inbound flights since the change to the charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11933/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government’s offer to abolish the tax in return for an increase in capacity and the restoration on cancelled routes stands. The purpose of the offer was to stimulate inbound tourist traffic. There have been some positive developments in relation to additional capacity on US-Ireland routes for 2013 linked to both general traffic demand and the expected increased traffic linked to the Gathering. However, overall the response from the airlines to date has been inadequate. The Government has made it clear that it will need to see a significant increase in capacity and routes before consideration can be given to abolishing the tax.

The €3 flat rate charge has applied since 1 March 2011. Data from the three State Airports shows a modest increase in passenger numbers of 0.5% in 2012 at the three airports. Individually this breaks down as:

- Dublin airport increase of 1.9% on 2011

- Shannon decrease of 14.9% on 2011 and

- Cork decrease of 0.9% on 2011.

However, a number of factors influence demand for air services so it is not possible to attribute increases or decreases of this magnitude to any one factor.