Travel by Ministers on State air fleet cost €3.6m

Travel by Cabinet Ministers on State aircraft and helicopters cost €3.6 million last year, according to the 2006 ministerial flight schedule obtained by The Irish Times.

The figure does not include the cost of ministerial travel on commercial airlines.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern once again clocked up the most air miles, with the annual cost of his travel on the State fleet reaching €848,790 last year.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was next, with an annual bill of €768,930, followed by Minister for Health and former tánaiste Mary Harney with a bill of €314,661. The total for all travel on the fleet was €3.6 million.

While the Taoiseach travelled abroad many times on aircraft from the State fleet, his domestic schedule meant he availed of the Air Corps to transport him between domestic locations more often than any other Cabinet member.

All 15 Cabinet Ministers used the ministerial fleet for domestic and international travel last year. A number of Ministers of State also used the fleet, as did President Mary McAleese.

There were 273 trips undertaken during the period, many involving several flights each. The quietest period was August, when Ministers are on summer holiday, with just three journeys taking place.

Government Ministers have access to six aircraft and helicopter types. The aircraft are the Lear jet 45, Gulfstream IV, Beech Super King Air and Casa. The helicopters are the Dauphin and Alouette models.

The Gulfstream is the most expensive to fly, with costs of €7,100 per hour. The Casa costs €2,800, Learjet €2,100 and Beech €1,600. The Alouette costs €1,700 and Dauphin €3,100.

The Dauphin was withdrawn from the fleet last January. These have just been replaced by two Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters which the Air Corps took delivery of in November.

All of the aircraft are crewed and maintained by members of the Air Corps. They are used for a variety of purposes including ministerial transport, search and rescue and other emergency missions and fisheries protection duties.

In the past, the fleet has been used to collect organs from the UK for transplant to Irish patients in the Republic.

The costs per Minister and Minister of State are calculated on the basis of ministerial time spent on board. The real costs of flights are higher in cases where aircraft or helicopters travel to a destination with only the crew on board to collect a Minister or Minister of State.

For example, the Taoiseach is often collected and dropped off by helicopter close to his constituency office in Drumcondra, Dublin. The helicopter is flown without passengers between Drumcondra and its base in Baldonnel. This portion of the journey is not included in the flight cost.

Many of the domestic flights taken by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue were to his Kerry constituency for official business, or involved a drop-off in Kerry.