The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, is to seek an open-ended deferral next week of the EU proposal to abolish dutyfree sales from July 1999. She said she would seek the deferral when she addresses a forum sponsored by the European Commission in Brussels next Wednesday. She believed other member-states would adopt a similar stance.
The proposal to abolish dutyfree would have serious implications for the State's airport agency, Aer Rianta, as well as airlines, ferry companies and manufacturers, Ms O'Rourke said. It could also undermine tourism.
Speaking at the IALPA conference, she said her other priority would be the agreement of new aviation safety standards through Eurocontrol. This European-wide safety body is being restructured with a view to agreeing uniform EU standards, as well as extending this to some central European countries.
SIPTU's chief economist, Mr Paul Sweeney, predicted the proposal to abolish duty-free would be "the most unpopular action ever undertaken by Eurocrats" and was due simply to an ideological desire to make the single market look neater.
People did not regard duty-free purchases as part of the cost of travel, but they would be very conscious of the increases in airport charges and fares that would result from their abolition.
Also at the conference, Cityjet's chief executive, Mr Pat Byrne, criticised successive Irish governments for failing to ensure there were adequate training facilities for pilots in Ireland.
"The recent explosion in growth for aviation in Ireland has meant that airlines have relied on directentry pilots who, in very many cases, have gone the self-improver route to become qualified." He called on the Government to make the Defence Forces' facility at Gormanston airfield available for pilot-training.