More than 3,600 customers hit by collapse of six travel firms during Covid-19 pandemic     

Commission for Aviation Regulation had to apply to the Department of Transport last year for €1.4m to top up the fund established to compensate holidaymakers in the event of travel firms going out of business

CAR commissioner Cathy Mannion said cash reserves in the Travellers’ Protection Fund would have been insufficient to compensate all claimants arising out of travel agents which collapsed last year.

More than 3,600 customers have been affected by the collapse of six travel agents in Ireland since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR).

The regulator said it had to apply to the Department of Transport last year for €1.4m to top up the fund established to compensate holidaymakers in the event of travel firms going out of business.

CAR commissioner Cathy Mannion said cash reserves in the Travellers’ Protection Fund would have been insufficient to compensate all claimants arising out of travel agents which collapsed last year.

However, Ms Mannion said the CAR had concluded that the receipt of the additional resources would allow the fund to operate as a going concern.

The latest accounts for the Travellers’ Protection Fund show its cash reserves shrank by 1% to just under €1.3m at the end of 2019, with collapse claims and administration costs totalling just over €6,000 for the year.

The payouts in 2019 related to claims arising from the collapse of three travel agencies – Premier Irish Golf Tours of Tralee; Heffernan’s Travel in Cork; and Sindaco which trades as Fanfare, Irish Film Tours and Buzz Travel. 

Almost €270,000 had been paid out from the fund in relation to the same three firms the previous year.

In recent years, the CAR has paid out more than €5m from the fund, including over €3.5m to about 4,200 claimants after Lowcostholidays.ie went out of business in July 2016 when the company’s bond was insufficient to cover the extent of claims.