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CONFLICT IN THE Middle East has forced a number of ministers to re-route their St Patrick’s Day trips, while the Taoiseach is expected to travel to the US next week on his new private jet.
The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and ministers are due to travel to more than 50 countries to promote Ireland over St Patrick’s week.
However, due to the conflict and subsequent flight restrictions in the Middle East, a number of ministers have had to make changes to their schedules.
A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs to The Journal on the disruption to planned travel said:
Given the current situation in the Middle East, decisions on St Patrick’s Day related travel to the region will be taken closer to the time.
Minister of State Niall Collins had been due to make a delayed St Patrick’s visit to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in April, following the conclusion of Ramadan.
However, it is understood his plans have changed and he is now going to travel to Chile and Argentina next week instead.
Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton was due to travel to those countries, but has taken the decision not to travel due to the fallout over the SNA redeployment plan.
Higher Education Minister James Lawless and OPW junior minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran are off to Australia for St Patrick’s Day, however their flights have been rescheduled in recent days as their routes were to include a stopover in Dubai.
Instead, their journey will include a number of connections before they reach Melbourne, with their original flights being refunded.
It is understood that junior minister for sport Charlie McConalogue’s flights to Thailand and Vietnam have also been changed.
While some ministers will now face a longer slog to get to their final destination, the Taoiseach will no longer have to slum it on commercial flights.
The much-talked-about government jet is understood to be ready for use, with the Taoiseach taking the first official trip on the aircraft for his US visit for St Patrick’s Day.
He will fly from Cork to Philadelphia next week, before travelling to Washington DC where he will meet with US President Donald Trump in the White Houese.
The €53m jet is a multi-purpose Strategic Reach Aircraft. It replaces the ailing Lear Jet, which has suffered significant technical difficulties and is also limited in range.
Up until now, when travelling to the US, the Taoiseach would usually travel on business class on commercial flights.
Sources have said the jet will be used not just to ferry ministers to foreign meetings and summits, but also for long distance air ambulance missions and troop transportation in emergencies.
Manufactured by Dassault Aviation SA, a French aerospace company of long standing in the aviation and defence industries, the Falcon 6X will have a total capacity of 17 and a passenger capacity of 14.
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