Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has ruled out implementing in Ireland an EU proposal for a voluntary tax on air travel to finance overseas aid.
At a weekend meeting in Luxembourg, the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers (Ecofin) agreed to the measure as a way of bringing extra money to developing countries. However, Mr Cowen said: "I wouldn't favour an EU-wide tax."
"There was some suggestion of a €10 departure tax - that would be €20 two ways. If you look at some of the low-cost access to Ireland, you would be talking about significant increases in the fare," he said.
The proposal made it to finance ministers' tables after French president Jacques Chirac in January suggested a general air tax to boost aid to the poorest countries, but the idea of an a general EU-wide tax did not find consensus.
"This will be a voluntary contribution which some member states propose to turn into a mandatory contribution, but we are leaving this open," said Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, the current head of Ecofin.
Ireland is one of several countries firmly opposed to the idea, fearing, amongst other things, that it could affect tourist numbers.
A document prepared for the meeting estimated that a tax of €10 within the EU and €30 on flights to destinations outside the bloc would generate some €6 billion per year.
Finland, Sweden, Italy and Greece and several new member states are also against the idea.
The proposal is to be revisited at a meeting of finance ministers next month and would be an extra source of revenue beyond the EU's general anti-poverty pledges under the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at halving worldwide poverty by 2015.
As part of these goals, the EU has said it will increase assistance to poor countries to 0.7 per cent of gross national income by this date.
But a formal air tax was not the only issue which saw no consensus at the meeting. There was also no progress towards agreeing the EU's budget from 2007 to 2013.
Although member states know that they have to get an agreement next month to make sure that EU structural aid is paid out from day one in 2007, there is little political will to do so.
Too many contentious issues, such as the British rebate - set to rise to €7.5 billion annually under the new budget - and the maximum amount that the biggest net contributors like Germany are prepared to pay - continue to block agreement.
Meanwhile, most of the governments' efforts will go into making sure that a Franco-German deal struck three years ago to fix agricultural spending until 2013 is not undermined. Mr Cowen said he expected this deal to "remain part of any solution".
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Juncker said he did not know if he would be able to forge agreement by the end of his country's EU presidency on June 30th. He said he was also "convinced" the next [ British] presidency "will not be able to do so".
Last month, the EU Commission warned that a lack of a deal in June would mean that around 40 per cent of the EU budget would not be able to be used on time.