US company offers solution to Government jet quandary

A US company has offered a solution to the Government's financial problems concerning the purchase of a private jet.

Netscape has submitted a tender to the Department of Defence offering "fractional" ownership of a jet.

Under this scheme, the Government would only have to pay for the hours when the jet was actually used.

The Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition is planning to spend up to €50m on a new luxury jet to replace the existing Gulfstream IV.

The plans have met with outcry from many groups, who said the new jet was an unnecessary extravagance at a time of cutbacks across all Government departments.