Tenders are to be invited for new Government aircraft, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, revealed yesterday.
He said the process was nearing completion and it was expected that the requisite notices would be issued to the Official Journal of the European Communities later this week. "The Government has decided to replace the Gulfstream 1V and the Beechcraft King Air in the ministerial air transport role. The decision was necessary to meet the ever-increasing demands of Government business, not least in the context of a significantly enlarged European Union."
Mr Smith said, however, that in tandem with the proposals for the supply of the aircraft, tenderers may also outline offers for the Gulfstream 1V at the proposed date of the handover of the tendered aircraft, or in mid-July 2004 following the EU presidency.
Offers for the Beechcraft King Air would also be considered in tandem with proposals for its replacement. Mr Smith rejected a suggestion from Mr Joe Sherlock (Labour, Cork East) that the new aircraft could cost about €63 million.
Mr Sherlock asked Mr Smith if he accepted that the Government's decision reflected "a strange sense of priorities to spend this kind of public money for the convenience of Ministers at a time when an elderly woman lay on a hospital trolley for 16 days, children with disability are being deprived of hot meals and people are being deprived of the home help service."
Mr Sherlock said the decision was also a slap in the face to the Air Corps who were told only last year that there was no money to acquire long-promised helicopters which were urgently required for rescue operations.
Mr Smith said he wanted to "scotch" the notion that there was a set figure for the purchase of the aircraft.
"It would be very injudicious in the context of tendering that that should be the position. In the event of the purchase of second-hand aircraft, or of leasing or lease purchase over a five or ten-year period, the type of money about which one would be talking would be infinitesimal compared to that which the deputy contended." Mr Smith said it could be very late this year before any aircraft was acquired and they might be little funds to be provided this year.
The Fine Gael spokesman on defence, Mr Dinny McGinley, asked Mr Smith if he was familiar with the high cost of providing sustenance and creature comforts to those travelling on the existing aircraft.
"We were led to believe it cost in excess of €100,000 for one year to provide gourmet meals, vintage wines, handmade chocolates and scents and perfumes of the designer kind.
"It is reminiscent of one of the chapters of the dying days of the Roman empire or of an Ottoman sultan's court. Can this be justified when the rest of us are tightening our belts?"
Mr Smith said it was important to note that the service provided was business class. Wine and other products were purchased in a normal commercial manner.
"Having said that, I have travelled on the jet on a number of occasions and have experienced no excesses."
Mr McGinley said he had recently travelled business class on Aer Lingus and was given "only a bun in a poke".
He said that at a time of economic retrenchment people could legitimately expect Government economy in that area also.
