Aer Rianta recently opened fine new terminal facilities at Dublin, which will help reduce congestion at the departure gates during busy periods. Last year a record number of over 10m passengers used Dublin airport alone. Airports are major job creators and are seen as powerful regional economic generators, helping to create prosperity and employment in the regions. Ironically, it is these very regional airports which will be hard hit by the negative effects flowing from the abolition of intra-EU duty and tax free sales. The cross channel ferry industry has been able to use such profits to help their investment program.
New ships are expensive and the cross-channel trade is still very seasonal.
Not alone does the profit help the investment programme - for some marginal routes, and in particular some of our regional airports which are having a hard time getting by, the availability of duty free sales is a key element in their survival at all. A key argument for retention is that it helps to keep the cost of travel down, and of particular significance for an island nation like ourselves is that it keeps the access cost down generally. The number of people who choose to visit Ireland has been steadily increasing over the years, and the numbers are expected to continue increasing. All this activity underpins employment opportunities. Not only in the duty free stores themselves, but also in the supply and distribution chain, and, by keeping the cost of access down, the employment in the tourist industry more generally is maintained.