Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way he will support initiatives that aim to improve air access to west coast USA and other locations of high strategic importance for tourism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15248/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Developing more air services from Ireland to global destinations and bringing more tourists from overseas are two of the key policies set out in the Government’s 2013 Action Plan for Jobs.

From a regulatory perspective my Department aims to ensure that there are no legal or regulatory impediments to the introduction of air services by negotiating bilateral air services agreements with third countries where necessary. In relation to the US, the market for air services between the EU and the US was liberalised under the EU-US Open Skies agreement in 2007. This means that EU and US airlines are free to provide whatever services they wish in these markets based on their own commercial judgements. The market for air services in and out of Ireland is highly competitive with a very significant number of airlines operating.

Tourism Ireland continues to invest in cooperative marketing activity with airlines. Additional capacity has been secured between Ireland and the US for the summer 2013 season with up to 133 departures, providing just over 31,000 seats in each direction per week. This represents a 26.6% increase in capacity, or just over 6,500 additional seats per week, compared to summer 2012. Furthermore additional connectivity direct to/from Dublin has been achieved through Emirates and Etihad's services from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively which provide greater ease of access to Ireland from Australia as well as the emerging tourism markets in the Middle East and Asia. These long-haul markets are particularly important for Irish tourism as tourists from these destinations tend to stay longer and spend more. In addition to this, Irish airports offer discounted charges to airlines providing new routes.

Negotiations are ongoing with a number of carriers for additional capacity linked both to general traffic demand and the increased traffic expected over the course of The Gathering Ireland 2013.