asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider alterations in the law or in customs practices to avoid annoyance to tourists and potential damage to the tourist industry occasioned by customs officers requiring foreign tourists on entering the country to pay substantial cash sums as a condition of temporarily importing their own sports equipment for use during their vacation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sports Equipment Temporary Import.
9.
Foreign tourists may import their personal effects, including sports equipment, temporarily without payment of customs charges. Occasionally visitors may be required to deposit a sum of money with the customs as a security for the duty on valuable articles. The deposit is refunded to the visitor when the articles are being re-exported.
This practice which is of long standing has rarely given rise to complaint and no change is contemplated at present.
I have two questions to put to the Minister. The first one is this: is he aware that tourists coming from, say, the United States to play golf in Ireland while on holiday and bringing their golf equipment with them may, at 7 o'clock in the morning at Shannon Airport be asked to fork out £50 without any previous notice or warning being given? Would the Minister indicate what are the occasions when the occasional tourist is called upon to pay that charge? I suspect the Minister would agree with me that it is not unreasonable that a tourist in such circumstances would feel irritated and exasperated, after a long journey, to be asked to fork out money as a deposit. Is any previous warning given to people that if they come to Ireland they will be required to pay it?
I am not sure if it is possible to give a previous warning to a visitor who may decide to come at very short notice. But I am sure the Deputy is aware, from his experience, that this does not happen on a very wide scale. I accept that it could be irritating for people but the reason is a good one. There are cases, for instance, where people bring in golf clubs that are totally unused and it is possible for such people to make a handsome profit in disposing of the clubs without paying any duty. Normally it is only in cases where there are grounds for suspecting that the articles are unused or may be intended for sale here that the demand is made for a deposit. In justification of that I would mention that in the year ended 30th September 1977, there were 14 cases where the equipment involved was golf clubs and a deposit was sought but in only one of those cases was there a call for the deposit to be refunded. In other words, the clubs were disposed of in the country.
I want to assure the Minister that the case brought to my notice was not one where golf clubs were disposed of in the country. May I suggest to the Minister that the Revenue Commissioners might consider operating a system such as that operated by the United States authorities where a visitor is asked to complete a form while he is on the plane. This is surrendered to the customs authorities on arrival and before leaving the country the person has to produce the duplicate to indicate what goods above a certain value were brought into the country. I suggest this would avoid the annoyance that has been caused to tourists coming here. Has the Minister any reaction to that suggestion?
I shall have the suggestion examined but I am not sure it will overcome the difficulty. A tourist might fill in the form and hand it up to the authorities but if the goods appeared to be unused he might still be asked to pay a deposit.
Even a few hours notice in mid-Atlantic would be better than being asked to fork out money in the early morning.