Travel tax - We must learn from mistakes

The chiefs executive of Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Cityjet have joined together in calling on the Government to scrap the €10 travel tax announced in last year’s budget.

It is the first time that Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary and any chief executive of Aer Lingus issued a joint statement on anything.

Since the imposition of this tax last March, there has been a 15% fall in monthly traffic at Dublin Airport. Following last year’s budget, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan admitted in March that raising the VAT rate by 0.5% had cost €700m in lost revenue as a result of the number of people who crossed the border to do their shopping.