Terminal folly: Dempsey is way off course

TRANSPORT Minister Noel Dempsey stated on RTE’s Prime Time (October 6) that the level of airport charges levied on consumers does not affect how they behave when making decisions whether or not to travel.

He maintained no evidence existed to contradict this assertion and that travellers were governed only by the airline’s base price — airport taxes and other charges being irrelevant.

This stance was taken to justify the increases being levied by the Dublin Airport Authority at the capital’s airport to pay for the €1.2m Terminal Two (T2) folly and the Government’s shortsighted €10 departure tax. If Mr Dempsey thinks consumer demand isn’t the least bit affected by the total cost, then he is as deluded and as ignorant of his brief as I suspect he might be.

The costs being passed on to consumers to service the enormous loans to pay for T2 are compounded by a minister who is blind to the consequences for our ailing tourism industry of levying increased taxes and charges on travel in the midst of a recession.

Mark Steele

The Kestrel

Jacobs Island

Mahon Point

Cork