Jet sent to collect TD for vote on reshuffle

THE Government frantically dispatched its jet to fly home a junior minister on Tuesday in time for the crucial vote on the Cabinet reshuffle.

The €5,900 bill for using the Government jet to collect Trade Minister Billy Kelleher in London will be met by the taxpayer.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen sanctioned use of the jet after fears arose that the Coalition wouldn’t have enough votes to approve his cabinet changes in the Dáil.

Mr Kelleher arrived in London Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon on a commercial flight from Australia, where he had represented the state for St Patrick’s Day festivities and trade events.

He had been scheduled to fly home from Heathrow on another commercial carrier which would have seen him land in Dublin around 8pm.

But that meant he would have missed the vote, which took place around 6.15pm. As a result, the Government decided on Tuesday morning to dispatch the jet to Heathrow to collect him.

It’s understood that when Mr Kelleher landed at Heathrow from Australia around 4pm, he was met by an official who informed him the jet was on standby. The jet duly flew him to Baldonnel, and Mr Kelleher made it to the Dáil in time to cast his vote.

In the end, the Government had a comfortable margin, approving the Taoiseach’s nominations to cabinet by 83 votes to 75.

But the Government last night insisted it had been unaware in advance that it would have such a margin. And it laid the blame at the door of Fine Gael for the estimated €5,900 cost to taxpayers of the trip.

Because he was on a state visit, Mr Kelleher had originally been “paired” for the vote. This is the system whereby a minister away on official business is paired with a Fine Gael TD who then abstains from voting in the interests of fairness.

But Fine Gael withdrew pairs for both Mr Kelleher and Fianna Fáil TD Charlie O’Connor, who had been due to fly to Africa on a development aid project, early on Tuesday – sparking the Government emergency. A Fine Gael spokesman said the party was simply “tightening up” on pairs. “We recognise that the Government have tight numbers and we’re going to make sure that the Government have to get their votes in if they want to get their votes through,” he said.

But Community Minister Pat Carey, who was Government chief whip until being promoted in the reshuffle, criticised this approach.

“We were very disappointed that they took that action, and it was unreasonably obstructive... Obviously then because of the tight voting situation, we did everything we had to do in order to get our people back.”

Mr Cowen’s spokesman said: “The Taoiseach did have to sanction the flight, which is the protocol.”

The Government operates two jets – a Gulfstream IV and a Learjet. The Department of Defence, which is responsible for them, said the Learjet collected Mr Kelleher. The hourly cost for the Learjet, including fuel, personnel and depreciation, is €2,950, making for a total bill of €5,900 for the two-hour round trip.