Ryanair attacks retention of €3 travel tax
As a war of words erupted between the outspoken business leader and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, Mr O’Leary warned that his company was scaling back its operations in Dublin in favour of more “friendly” hubs such as Rome and Barcelona.
Mr O’Leary said the Government’s decision not to abolish the travel levy would only produce €30m in income this year and see Ireland miss out of benefiting from the airline’s “enormous growth”.
But Mr Varadkar said he would not give Ryanair and Aer Lingus “something for nothing”, as the carriers had failed to provide commitments on expanding their routes.
A bullish Mr O’Leary said the Government needed to slash airport fees and get rid of the tax altogether, as his airline was building up its bases in Britain and the continent at the expense of Ireland. Noting that Ryanair carried more passengers than any other European airline in July, at eight million journeys, he insisted the Government was squandering an opportunity for economic revival.
He singled out the DAA for special criticism, saying it had raised charges by 40%, despite declining tourist numbers.
Mr O’Leary said lack of Government action meant Ireland was not enjoying the same return to pre-recession travel numbers as other European countries. He ridiculed Government claims that passenger numbers were up, insisting they were based on a misleading survey and that figures were down in reality for the first quarter of 2011.
Mr O’Leary also laid into government policy, insisting that the proposed metro north public transport link between central Dublin and the city’s airport should be scrapped.
“A country that’s broke can’t waste €5bn on building a Noddy train set,” he said, adding only “environmental loonies and green half-wits” believed people were demanding better public transport links to Dublin Airport.
He said Government attitudes were also having a bad economic impact on Cork and Shannon airports.
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