Ministerial trips on board Government jet drop by half

MINISTERS have been finding alternative travel arrangements to the Government jet, with new figures showing the number of trips on the Gulfstream have almost halved in the past two years.

Trips by ministers on the Government jet cost the taxpayer just over €2 million so far this year, compared to €3.1m in 2006.

The Gulfstream was involved in 54 missions in the first 11 months of this year, compared to 101 missions in 2006 and 78 last year.

The drop is partially because the Government jet was out of service for around three months this year when it was sent to the United States for major refurbishment.

However, there has also been a drop in the ministers’ use of the other two Air Corps jets available to them — the Beechcraft and the smaller aircraft, the Learjet, which was bought at the beginning of Ireland’s EU presidency in 2004.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea revealed in the Dáil that recent maintenance works on the Gulfstream, which included water pipe work reconditioning, cost €approximately €1.8m.

He said the interior refurbishment, which was “long overdue”, cost a further €426,000.

This included “the recovering of the cabin seats; restoration work on the seat-belts; the replacement of carpets; and refinishing of cabin ledges, console tables and the conference table which had become damaged and worn during the years,” said Mr O’Dea.

The Gulfstream IV did not have a major overhaul since 1991. It is 17 years old and has flown more than 11,200 hours — almost twice the average for similar small jets.

Earlier this year, the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil there was not “an aircraft in the world, or the Third World” that had flown as many hours as the Gulfstream.

So far this year, ministers have been involved in 158 trips on all three aircraft, compared to 192 last year, 254 in 2006, 234 in 2005 and 266 in 2004.

The busiest year on board the state aircraft was during Ireland’s EU presidency in 2004, when the three jets spent a total of 1,021 hours in the air carrying ministers, the Taoiseach and officials.

This dropped to around 780 hours in 2005 and 2006 and to 586 hours this year.

Catering on board the Government jet has cost €61,277 this year, compared to €79,724 in 2007.