Close to €520,000 has been spent so far this year on hiring private jets to transport the Taoiseach and Tánaiste for overseas visits, reports Breaking News.
According to the Department of Defence, a total of 11 air taxi services were used this year, two of which were for President Michael D Higgins.
However, the department only disclosed information regarding nine flights linked to the government, with each trip averaging nearly €58,000, reports Breaking News.
The significant expenditure began in January, when more than €78,000 was paid for a jet to fly Taoiseach Micheál Martin and five others to Katowice, Poland.
That same-day journey involved 314 minutes of flight time, translating to a per-hour cost of roughly €14,900.
In February, three private jets were hired for the Taoiseach. The first, for a trip to Brussels in early February, came in at just under €42,000, reports Breaking News.
A second flight on February 9th carried the Taoiseach and six officials from Brussels to Paris, with a total cost of €43,700.
Another trip later that month—starting from Baldonnel to Munich, continuing to Cork, and returning to Baldonnel—was the priciest of the year, reports Breaking News.
That flight, totaling 289 minutes in the air, came with a final cost of nearly €82,000, according to documents obtained through Freedom of Information.
In March, three additional private flights were arranged for the Taoiseach. The first, to Liverpool and Brussels, had a price tag of around €67,500, reports Breaking News.
A mid-March journey to Brussels with a return stop in Cork cost just under €55,000, as reported by the Department of Defence.
Another March flight to Paris for the Taoiseach and five delegates cost close to €40,500.
In April, both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste Simon Harris traveled together to Rome to attend Pope Francis’s funeral, reports Breaking News.
That flight, which lasted 502 minutes, came at a cost of €71,797.
A second private plane was hired for President Michael D Higgins for this occasion, but the Department of Defence declined to reveal the cost, reports Breaking News.
Under existing Freedom of Information laws, all records involving the President are exempt from disclosure, a lack of transparency that may attract scrutiny during the upcoming election cycle.
The Taoiseach’s final trip by private jet, which took place in early May to Antwerp, Belgium, cost nearly €39,000, reports Breaking News.
Since May, one additional private flight was arranged for the President, but no further details were provided by the department.
Private jet use has become more routine following the retirement of the government’s old Learjet last year, which was grounded after persistent mechanical issues, reports Breaking News.
A new Dassault Falcon 6X, priced at €53 million, has been ordered to replace it, though it’s not expected to be operational until 2026.
Additionally, the Air Corps’ PC12 aircraft has been used for eight ministerial trips this year.
Seven of those flights were for Tánaiste Simon Harris, with destinations including Brussels, Munich, and Luxembourg. The aircraft was used once by the Department of Enterprise in April, reports Breaking News.
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