IN an attempt to save the duty free business the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, yesterday pressed fellow finance ministers at the European wide meeting in Brussels to set up an inquiry into the social and economic effects of ending the facility for intra European travellers.
The ministers did not agree to the study but Mr Quinn said that there was growing interest in the idea which would be brought back to the agenda.
The Government sees such a study as representing the only basis for a rearguard action to delay or overturn the decision taken in 1991 to abolish duty free sales within the Union by July 1st, 1999.
Irish duty free sales last year totalled some £100 million, four fifths of it intra EU - some 70 per cent through Aer Rianta outlets, and the balance through regional airports or ferries.
The sales are seen both as an important ingredient in attracting tourists and a significant contributor to transport costs. Industry sources also put the number of jobs that would be affected by abolition at between 1,000 and 1,500.
Mr Quinn said last night that the airports and the ferries had made a strong case to him for retention of the sales on the basis of the likely adverse effect on fares.
