Ryanair call on government to scrap tax

Ryanair once again today called on the Irish government to scrap the €10 tourist tax introduced in last October's budget. Quoting figures from Airport Council International which state that every 1 million passengers at an airport sustain 1,00 jobs, Ryanair points out that over 1 million less passengers passed through Irish airports in the first 5 months of this year which will cause an annual job loss of 2,500. The attendant revenue loss will be an annual €1.5bn based on Failte Ireland's figure of €600 spend per passenger during their time in Ireland.

As the airlines don't make any money from the tourist tax and with the calls to scrap the tax reaching crescendo point the government's continued refusal to move on the tax can only be seen as plain stupidity at this time when the gain to the exchequer is a mere €125m.