Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 May 2003

Vol. 567 No. 5

Written Answers. - Ministerial Travel.

Enda Kenny

Question:

171 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Defence the total number of flights the Government jet has been engaged in since 1997; the number of flights which were internal; the number of flights which involved travel to a different jurisdiction; the number of outward bound flights which involved a landing and subsequent departure at Dublin Airport; the number of return journeys which involved a similar landing and subsequent departure from Dublin Airport; if the Government jet is, as a matter of course, always housed at Baldonnel Airport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14548/03]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

While the detailed log books for the GIV aircraft would show each of the various flights undertaken by it, the Air Corps only compile statistical records on the basis of the number of missions conducted by the GIV annually. Each mission may consist of a number of flights, for example, Baldonnel-New York-Washington-Shannon-Baldonnel would be counted as one mission, but would obviously involve a number of flights. Extracting the details of each flight from the log books, in respect of all missions undertaken by the GIV, would require an inordinate amount of time and expense.

The number of internal and external missions between 1998 and 2002 as recorded by the Air Corps are as follows:

Year	TotalMissions	ExternalMissions	InternalMissions
1998	214.00	194.00	20.00
1999	105.00	94.00	11.00
2000	146.00	127.00	19.00
2001	120.00	110.00	10.00
2002	134.00	113.00	21.00
Total	719.00	638.00	81.00

The number of flights made by the Gulfstream IV jet between Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, and Dublin Airport in each of the past five years is:

Year	Baldonnel to Dublin	Dublin to Baldonnel
1998	28.00	36.00
1999	31.00	32.00
2000	30.00	31.00
2001	15.00	14.00
2002	9.00	17.00
Total	113.00	130.00

The higher number of flights from Dublin to Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, is due to missions which may have departed in the first instance from Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, but returned to Dublin. The Government jet is housed as a matter of course at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel.