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A Bombardier Challenger 350 business jet, one of those hired by the government Alamy Stock Photo

Government spends more than €1.3 million hiring private jets for overseas trips in 12 months

18 trips were taken by the government, 11 by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, five by current Taoiseach Simon Harris and two by Tánaiste Micheál Martin

MORE THAN €1.3 million has been spent by the government hiring private jets for the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in the twelve months to June, as a replacement for its ailing Learjet.

Records obtained by The Journal under the Freedom of Information Act show that, in total, 18 trips were taken by the Government during that time: 11 were by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar; five were by current Taoiseach Simon Harris; and were two by Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

The government has been forced to hire private jets due to the unreliability of its Learjet, which was formerly used for such trips but which in recent years has been plagued by technical issues.

The 18 trips included visits to Egypt and Israel, where commercial options were not feasible due to security and timing; however, the majority of the trips taken were short-haul flights to Brussels, Paris and Munich.

For example, in February, the government spent €73,000 hiring a Bombardier Challenger 350 for then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to attend the Munich Security Conference.

Eight of the trips in the 12 months to June saw the Taoiseach fly to Brussels for EU summits and conferences.

Those two-hour return flights generally cost in the region of €45,000, though more recently the Taoiseach made stops in Warsaw and Zurich before returning to Dublin, which added significantly to the total cost.

In total, more than €430,000 was spent on these trips to Brussels.

Meanwhile, records show Simon Harris also made stops in Cork and Kerry when returning from Brussels, before taking 45-minute flights back to Dublin.

Emissions from private jets are known to be significantly worse than commercial flights and any other form of travel.

Much fuel is burned during takeoff and landing, meaning short trips with many stops can contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

Since 2020, all government departments have been required to offset the emissions produced by official air travel, paying into the government’s Climate Action Fund.

Significant outlay

Records obtained by The Journal show that the three most expensive trips taken in the 12 months to June each cost more than €100,000.

In November last year, €158,000 was spent for the Tánaiste’s trip to Cairo and Tel Aviv, while almost €110,000 was spent on then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s two-day visit to the Balkans in January this year, when he met with senior politicians from Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

At the time of Varadkar’s trip, he spoke about the unreliability of the Learjet and said that it was “not possible to visit three countries in two days using commercial aircraft”.

The most expensive trip, totalling €197,500, was taken by Tánaiste Micheál Martin in April this year, when he visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza - though there were no other flight options on this trip due to security issues.

The Tánaiste and 12 others first flew to Cairo, where he met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry before flying to El Arish airport, some 50km west of the border with Gaza.

Another trip taken by then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in March this year came close to costing six figures, when the government spent over €97,000 hiring a Bombardier Challenger 605 to take him to Bucharest.

The Taoiseach’s official diary shows he met with both the President and Prime Minister of Romania during the two-day trip, before attending the European People’s Party conference of which Fine Gael is a member.

The figures above do not include the costs for two more trips in which a private jet was hired.

In March 2022, the government hired a private jet to take the Taoiseach to Paris and then the UK for almost €30,000.

Another trip not included in the above figures was the Taoiseach’s recent trip to the UK in July for the meeting of the European Political Community and bilateral with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The Department of Defence is still awaiting an invoice for this trip so its cost is unknown.

The hiring of private jets has become more commonplace as a result of technical issues that have plagued the Government’s own Learjet, leaving it out of action for long periods.

irish-government-planes-jets The government Learjet, which will soon be replaced. Eamonn Farrell / Photocall Ireland Eamonn Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

While an internal Defence Forces report suggested that the unreliability of the aircraft in 2023 may have been “somewhat of an anomaly”, with it previously having a “good rate of serviceability”, the decision was made to replace the ailing Learjet.

In November last year, a tender was published seeking the successor to the Learjet, with the government set to spend €45 million on the aircraft.

That came a month after Micheál Martin was forced to spend the night in Luxembourg as a result of technical issues with the Air Corps plane he was due to travel home on.

A spokesperson for the Department of Defence said “following a decision taken last year to no longer use the Learjet for ministerial transport, and pending its replacement, the Department procured the services of a Chartered Commercial Operator. This contingency service was procured competitively”.

They added, “a competitive process for the procurement of a new government jet is underway. The intention is that the acquisition phase will be complete and an award of contract will be made this year”.

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    Mute Gavan Hogan
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:39 PM

    I won’t be voting for any of those parties.

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    Mute 9QRixo8H
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:47 PM

    You’ll be glad to know that FG are topping the opinion polls.

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    Mute Gavan Hogan
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:51 PM

    @9QRixo8H: The real poll will take place tomorrow.

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    Mute P. J.
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    Jun 6th 2024, 7:37 PM

    @Gavan Hogan:
    Unfortunately Gavan, he might be right.
    Although I personally think SF will shade it nationally

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    Mute Jen McC
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    Jun 6th 2024, 9:03 PM

    @Gavan Hogan: cool, I will.

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    Mute Sean Stevenson
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:42 PM

    Not one mention of crime. Antisocial behaviour is absolutely rampant in inner city Dublin. Drug dealing is quite literally on every street corner in Dublin 1. Kids on scramblers rallying up and down through traffic on bikes they’ve either robbed or bought with the proceeds of crime. Ffs the only party I see mention antisocial behaviour is those absolute loons in the national party. Why do I have to look to the far right ethnonationalists before I find a party that takes crime seriously? Can anybody recommend local councillors in the inner city that focus on crime reduction? Advocates for more prisons or reopening old ones? The soft touch approach has clearly failed for all to see.

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    Mute Sean Stevenson
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:48 PM

    Oh wait, more fool me, just saw the paragraph where labour wants “wardens” handing out fines for antisocial beheviour. I’m sure that’ll stop it! LOL. How many fines were paid to councils for things like dog poop in the past 4 years? A quick Google search shows 1 (yes, one in 4 years). Why do they think fining people for this will help?

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    Mute Éamonn OKane
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:10 PM

    @Sean Stevenson: but, how many were faced to clean up.before been fined?

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    Mute Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson
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    Jun 6th 2024, 9:52 PM

    @Sean Stevenson: very well said and so true.

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    Mute Boyne Shark
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:26 PM

    We all know how much a promise from a politician is worth. Why not check the promises they made previously and how they’ve lived up to them. Or not.

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    Mute Jim
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:58 PM

    More false promises that mean nothing to the people of Ireland

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    Mute damien leen
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:59 PM

    Blowing up a school now Israel…what happened…miss the orphanage? Ah well not to worry, plenty time for that!

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    Mute damien leen
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    Jun 6th 2024, 7:03 PM

    @Ulysses 31: Ah bless…have I got to the racist thicko…good.

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    Mute Kush OMeara
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    Jun 6th 2024, 9:36 PM

    @damien leen: Maybe if Hamas stops building tunnels and hiding flammable ammo under schools and kids bedrooms. It’s either Israel blowing it up or Hamas firing those rockets at Israel ( good thing there’s the Iron dome) – I know what I would do.

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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:28 PM

    Politics seem to attract poor specimens of society, ie, accomplished sleight-of-hand artists and polished liars. It’s best to vote them out regularly and not leave them too long in government!

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    Mute 9QRixo8H
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:45 PM

    FF was the largest party since 2019 local election, will they continue to be the largest after tomorrow or will people vote change? #VoteTomorrow.

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    Mute Jack Hayes
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    Jun 6th 2024, 6:00 PM

    Apathy and cynicism will be the ruin of us all.

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    Mute Eric
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    Jun 6th 2024, 7:30 PM

    None of them mention ensuring economic growth or how much extra they will tax and misspend??

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    Mute Jerry LeFrog
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    Jun 6th 2024, 8:31 PM

    @Eric: economic growth is not something county councils are exceptionally renowned for. They should have more powers to attract investment though.
    As for taxing… County councils only collect commercial rates I think? Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong

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    Mute The next small thing
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    Jun 6th 2024, 7:54 PM

    It’s great that they can get rid or lower taxes and yet increase services

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    Mute John Moore
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    Jun 7th 2024, 12:21 AM

    Could probably have bundled most of the looney parties here into one doc to save time. That document could then more easily be put through a shredder and recycled into toilet paper or perhaps bedding for someone who maybe keeps rodents as a pet.

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Jun 7th 2024, 12:07 PM

    Lol! so a whole pile of nothing? not a road, bridge, train, etc. ‘empower local council’… to be against any national plans? It’s 2 steps back, if we’ve learned anything it’s that we cant solve the problems facing us, putting more people infront of these problems will make it even harder.

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