Ryanair has called on the Irish government to scrap plans to introduce a 10 euro (£9.17) travel tax after it was revealed that Dublin Airport suffered a 12 per cent decrease in passenger numbers during February.

Figures announced by the Government-owned Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) showed that 1.4 million passengers travelled through the airport last month, a decrease of 200,000 on the same period last year. In response, the budget airline has warned that passenger numbers will continue to decrease at Irish airports, including Cork, Shannon and Dublin, if the government presses ahead with efforts to introduce the flat-rate travel tax on 1 April.

The company has also called for a 30 per cent reduction in the DAA's existing charges, as well as the dismissal of the Irish aviation regulator, Cathal Guiomard. Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said: "This continuing traffic collapse at Dublin Airport shows that Irish tourism cannot afford the high costs being charged by the Government-owned DAA monopoly, or the ineffective regulation being presided over by Cathal Guiomard.

"With Ireland's tourism industry in freefall, this government must now scrap the 10 euro travel tax. These funds can be raised in other ways, such as getting rid of the unnecessary and unjustified 5bn euro (£4.6bn) Dublin Airport Metro."