Ryanair calls on Failte Ireland to publish June figures

Ryanair today called on Failte Ireland, the state tourism agency to publish passenger traffic figures for June of this year. Each month the agency has released the figures to the airline but bizarrely this month Failte Ireland agreed to publish the figures, only if Ryanair agreed to keep them secret. Naturally enough in it's continued efforts to court controversy, Ryanair has refused this request on the basis that the figures if released are further confirmation of the damage being caused to Irish tourism by the Government's travel tax.

Speaking today, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said “Irish tax payers pay over €100m p.a. to fund Fáilte Ireland, and one of the few useful things they do is publish monthly traffic figures. Fáilte Ireland should stop this Government cover up and publish the June figures which will confirm that Irish tourism is in the toilet, as visitors switch to lower cost, lower tax tourism destinations elsewhere in Europe”.