Transport, Tourism & Sport Minister Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the Government has decided to keep the €3 travel tax in place for the moment. There will be a further review of the tax next spring.
As part of its jobs initiative in May, the Government said it would suspend the tax if a deal could be reached with the airlines on the re-instatement of cancelled routes or new routes.
But a statement from the department said today that it had not been possible 'at this time' to secure solid commitments from the airlines.
The department said Minister Varadkar had made it clear that the aim was to increase the number of tourists travelling to Ireland; not to increase the number of Irish people travelling abroad.
The Minister said he remained open to discussions with the airlines, and would look at suspending the tax next year if progress in the talks were made. He said that in. In the meantime, a 'significant proportion' of revenue from the tax would be used to support inbound tourism.
A fund of €8.5m is to be used for 'co-operative marketing' with airlines, airports, ferry companies and tour operators on inbound routes into Ireland. Companies will be expected to make a contribution to any campaign.
Minister Varadkar said he could not agree to foregoing significant tax revenue without a solid commitment from the airlines, though he said it was understandable that they did not want to make commitments due to the uncertain economic situation.
'In addition, the new routes offered were predominantly to Mediterranean hotspots which would actually have taken many more people out of the country than they would have brought in,' he added.
Ryanair described the Minister' statement as inaccurate, saying the majority of routes it had offered by Ryanair were to UK and non-Mediterranean European destinations.
