This article is from page 4 of the 2009-06-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan has been accused of being “out of touch with reality” for his re- fusal to back down on the €10 air- port travel tax.
Clare TD Joe Carey (FG) yesterday called on the finance minister to “get real’ and withdraw the tax, which he claims is having a devastating effect on the tourist industry in Clare and the mid-west.
“The Minister for Finance needs to get real here and look at what is happening in the region. Ryanair cut their aircraft from four to three last
week, with a resulting loss in jobs, directly as a result of this tax that adds 100 per cent to the cost of their average winter fare out of Shannon,’ said Carey.
“Initially Ryanair had six aircraft based at Shannon. I have spoken with Michael O’Leary on a one-to-one ba- sis and he has said that Ryanair will restore these lost aircraft and routes based in Shannon if the tax is with- ole-bene
‘The experience in Europe, in Bel- gium for example, is that the govern- ment there introduced this tax and quickly withdrew it because of the negative impact it was having on
their tourist industry. Likewise, there was a similar experience in Holland. Ireland is a small open economy and an island nation that depends on air navigation to support our tourist market and business interests.”
Deputy Carey put an official Dail question to Minister Lenihan last week, requesting that the tax be re- moved.
In response, the finance minister claimed to have taken account of concerns raised by the regional air- ports by introducing a lower rate of €2 which applies to destinations less than 300kms from Dublin Airport.
“Estimates are that the travel tax
will raise somewhere in the region of €60-100 million per annum for the Government,” continued Deputy Cre
‘“That’s the same kind of money they threw away on E-voting ma- chines. The estimated loss in tourist revenue, though, to the region from the withdrawal of services due to the travel tax 1s estimated at twice that, at €200 million.
“The fact 1s, this tax was introduced with little afterthought as to how it would operate, what the long-term impacts would be, and what effect it would have on regional airports. It has proved disastrous.”