The Minister for Public Enterprise is to meet her German counterpart in early March to discuss the proposed abolition of duty free within the EU in June 1999. Ms O'Rourke told the Dail she had arranged the meeting with Mr Matthias Wissmann, adding: " There are growing indications that the German government may back the campaign for the retention of duty free."
She hoped to meet soon the British Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, to underline again the jobs loss, dearer air fares and access costs if duty free were abolished.
Ms O'Rourke was speaking during the resumed debate on the Fine Gael private member's motion condemning the Government for its "lassitude" in not seeking to reverse the EU decision to abolish duty free. A Government amendment supporting Irish efforts on the issue was carried by 68 votes to 62.
The Minister said that last year marked the 50th anniversary of the Irish Customs Free Airport Act of 1947 which resulted in the establishment of the first duty-free outlet in the world at Shannon Airport. In retrospect, it was "an incredibly revolutionary and visionary piece of legislation", she added.
The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said the move to abolish duty free was a reflection of the rigid decision-making process that made so many people in so many member-states cynical about the European project.
"Someone, somewhere in the European bureaucracy decides that the concept of duty free is incompatible with the principle of the Single Market, so it must go, irrespective of the implications for jobs, the impact on the cost of air and sea travel and the consequences for the tourism industry."
The Fine Gael spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Ivan Yates, said the reality of the duty free abolition was now apparent, with Aer Rianta claiming that it would have to raise landing charges by 50 per cent from mid-1999.