Labour’s Spokesperson for Transport Ciarán Ahern has condemned the price hikes by airline companies in the wake of the Irish football team’s World Cup play-off fixtures being announced.
The price of a plane ticket to and from Prague the day before and the day following the match jumped by as much as 3.5 times the price for tickets the week prior.
“Troy Parrot’s heroics last week to keep our chances of going to the World Cup alive have lifted the nation’s spirits,” Deputy Ahern said.
“I’ve lost count how many times I’ve watched back his 96th minute winner!
“Not since Robbie Brady stuck a header past Italy’s Salvatore Sirigu at Euro 2016 have Irish football fans had such cause for celebration.
“We know now that Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team will be heading to Prague in March to face the Czech Republic in our first play-off match and within minutes of the fixture being confirmed, we saw airline tickets shoot up in price.
“This sort of cynical profiteering will leave a sour taste in the mouth of many Irish fans going over to the game. We see it all too often when big events like this occur – what should be an occasion of unbridled joy and excitement is dampened by the greed of billionaires like Michael O’Leary.
“We’re living through a cost-of-living crisis. Many of the committed Irish fans who are following the Boys in Green to Prague will have already been making a significant sacrifice in doing so even if plane prices had remained the same. We now have a situations where a round-trip could cost close to the €1,000 mark.
“We need to call out this sort of corporate greed by airlines.
“There are no additional costs to them just because there’s a match on.
“They saw an opportunity to rip-off hard-pressed fans on the back of a moment of national pride and they’ve taken it.”