The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has said that there is increasing evidence of a build-up of support from other EU member states for the retention of duty free sales.

"Other countries have awoken to the direct job losses that will occur in their member states and so Ireland is not alone any more in this matter," he said.

Mr McCreevy was on a whistlestop tour of the regional airports yesterday to hear the views of duty free staff and their concerns in relation to jobs ahead of a key meeting on the issue in Brussels on Tuesday.

At Mr McCreevy's request, EU economic and finance ministers will consider whether or not to commission an EU-wide study of the socio-economic impact of the abolition of duty free from June 30th, 1999.

Already a study by the British-based Centre for Economic and Business Research has found that its abolition could lead to the loss of 7,400 jobs in Ireland alone while transport costs would also increase.

Independent studies carried out on an EU-wide basis have shown that 70,000 to 80,000 jobs are at stake. If the indirect impact, such as the effect on tourism, is taken into account the figure could be closer to 150,000.

"At a time when we are trying to save jobs in Europe it seems a bit ridiculous to be embarking on a course of action which is going to lead to job losses," Mr McCreevy said.

Mr Eoin Brophy, public affairs director of the International Duty Free Confederation, said he is very confident the results of any pan-European impact study will show that abolishing duty free is "economic suicide".

The Brussels-based umbrella group for the national duty free associations in the 15 EU member states has been running a campaign to retain duty free since March, 1996.