Tabby tab: search to cost €8,000

TAXPAYERS will have to foot an €8,000 bill spent on a helicopter and other aircraft used in the search for a big cat reportedly on the loose near the Border.

A garda helicopter was in the air for about three hours and a fixed-wing plane for around seven hours during the fruitless search for the animal.

Footage of one cat broadcast on RTÉ clearly showed that it was a large domestic tabby and not the puma said to be roaming around Monaghan.