Noel Dempsey EUR 10 tax cloud cuckoo land comments.

alpha2zulu

Came across this amongst all the Budget mumbo-jumbo. Can you imagine the outcry if a minister came out with the same phrase when defending a cut in child benefit or social welfare...

“Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has told the Dáil that anyone who believes the airport departure tax has caused the fall off in aviation passengers in this country is living in ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’, given all the charges airlines impose”
i doubt very much a 10e departure tax will stop people coming into the country…maybe he should consider the drop in tourists to the overpriced restaurants/cinemas/rail/buses/drinks etc

It is breathtaking that the Minister for Transport has so little knowledge of the financials of the aviation industry in Ireland. Give him 5minutes with the books from a majority of Ireland-Europe routes this winter and he would quickly change his tune. If EI/RE/FR thought they could have exorted an additional 10euro in revenue from each passenger without seriously damaging loads does he not think they would have done this already?

Bit of an insult to all the ground staff who have lost jobs as a result of the tax exasperating the fall in traffic numbers.

FG have by the way said they will remove the tax when they get to power. Put Dempseys comments on every FG election poster in Swords next time around and watch the votes come in.

pclancy

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a great Radiohead site I used to frequent. I didnt realise he was a fan.

http://www.cloudcuckooland.net/

highlydebased

Unfortunately it might be too late by the time Fine Gael come into power, alot of the damage has been done.

donkey balls

what do you expect from a poxy school teacher turned TD/Minister the man is an idiot. there was a report out about six months ago on certain transport companies in ireland (road freight).

who had over 7,000 fines for breaking the law he had being informed by the Gardai&RSA what was his reply (there could be a problem revoking the licence to operate as it could put people out of work FFS).
in any other european country the company would be closed down
sorry for going on a rant lads i just needed to let people know what kind of morons we have in ministerial Depts

alpha2zulu

donkey balls wrote: »

what do you expect from a poxy school teacher turned TD/Minister the man is an idiot. there was a report out about six months ago on certain transport companies in ireland (road freight).

My thoughts exactly, keeping the cloud cuckoo land theme going, its this intiative and not the air pax tax that will turn the tourisim industry around.

Its so rediculous it aint even funny...we can thank our esteemed deputy Cullen for this one.

As an imaginative initiative to boost the international marketing effort for 2010, Iarnrod Éireann have agreed to participate in a new scheme, to be developed by Fáilte Ireland, which will be aimed at senior citizens visiting Ireland from other countries. These tourists will be able to avail of greatly discounted rail travel throughout Ireland during their visits. More information on this initiative will be given by Fáilte Ireland and Iarnrod Éireann in the coming weeks when the details have been finalised.

http://www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie/publications/release.asp?ID=100729

K-9

He made a good point about Airline charges but I see that wasn't pointed out.

Dacian

K-9 wrote: »

He made a good point about Airline charges but I see that wasn't pointed out.

Airlines as it is are trying to go as low as they can in order to entice people to fly. In some cases the govt levy could double the ticket price.

At least when you give money to an airline you get something for your money. Not a good time for a mer to instruct the airlines to get their house in order.

What has this guy actually done as Transport minister since his appoointment? I want accountability.

At least you can get a refund with Aer Arann/Aer Lingus/Ryanair. I pay 42% tax and get relatively feck all from the govt.

spadder

What does Dempsey care about travel taxes when you can just take the army chopper?





This is him landing at Trim GAA pitch ( his own personal heli pad)
it always seemed to me to be a risky place to put down.

pclancy

That's pretty sick using up that kind of taxpayers money to get yourself around.

monkeypants

They're all up to it. Even the greens, who bring in carbon taxes and lecture us about flying...they don't cycle to these conferences around the world. They can't even manage to find their way around the airport without a limo and driver.

EchoIndia

pclancy wrote: »

That's pretty sick using up that kind of taxpayers money to get yourself around.

I think that unless you know the nature and purpose of the journey involved, you can't make that sort of judgement. By the way, the Air Corps are extremely careful about the places they land and it is common enough for them to use protected areas such as sports pitches, which would have subject to assessment beforehand from a safety point of view. Note also that the helicopters used now are all twin-engined, so this renders operations safer than with single-engined types such as the Gazelle and Alouette used previously.

K-9

Dacian wrote: »

Airlines as it is are trying to go as low as they can in order to entice people to fly. In some cases the govt levy could double the ticket price.

At least when you give money to an airline you get something for your money. Not a good time for a mer to instruct the airlines to get their house in order.

What has this guy actually done as Transport minister since his appoointment? I want accountability.

At least you can get a refund with Aer Arann/Aer Lingus/Ryanair. I pay 42% tax and get relatively feck all from the govt.

YEP, he still made a good point!

pclancy

Well i'm sorry EchoIndia but I think ANY use of military helicopters to move TDs around is a massive waste of money, no matter what "urgent business" they're on. Ireland is small enough to get around by other less costly means IMO.

I don't think it for a second would be ever operated in an unsafe way by the Aer Corps, I just hate seeing money wasted.

spadder

EchoIndia wrote: »

I think that unless you know the nature and purpose of the journey involved, you can't make that sort of judgement. By the way, the Air Corps are extremely careful about the places they land and it is common enough for them to use protected areas such as sports pitches, which would have subject to assessment beforehand from a safety point of view. Note also that the helicopters used now are all twin-engined, so this renders operations safer than with single-engined types such as the Gazelle and Alouette used previously.

Purpose of the journey:
That day he was opening the new swimming pool in Trim!

monkeypants

spadder wrote: »

Purpose of the journey:
That day he was opening the new swimming pool in Trim!

Place of birth: Trim.

Why'd he need a helicopter? It's not like he was going to the wilds of Donegal or somewhere and the county wouldn't notice if the transport minister disappeared for a few hours to do a wee bit of stroking in the constituency.