As I did not travel abroad for St. Patrick's Day in my capacity as Minister for Defence no costs were incurred by the Department of Defence. The Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Defence, Paul Kehoe T.D., visited Irish troops serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon from 15 March — 19 March. He was accompanied by two officials from my Department. The final costs cannot be confirmed until the final invoices are received in respect of this visit. The costs incurred to date are set out in the table below:
Nature of Expense
|
Amount
|
Flights & Luggage Charges
|
€2,609
|
Accommodation: Lebanon
|
€361
|
Accommodation: Beirut
|
€392
|
Entertainment
|
€383
|
The Taoiseach availed of the Ministerial Air Transport Service provided by the Air Corps for his trip to the U.S.A. for St Patrick's Day as follows:
Date
|
Return Date
|
Aircraft
|
Time on board
|
15/03/2012
|
21/03/2012
|
Gulfstream IV
|
17 hours 30 minutes
|
My Department follows the normal practice in the aviation business of costing aircraft by reference to the cost per flying hour under either of two headings:
The direct cost which includes costs which are additional to those associated with having the aircraft and which only arise when the aircraft is flown including maintenance, fuel and support services such as catering costs, cleaning services and airport handling charges.
The total cost which is the direct cost plus the costs associated with having the aircraft and includes depreciation and personnel costs.
The average direct cost per hour for the Gulfstream is €3,270. The average total cost per hour for the Gulfstream is €3,790. These are average costs which take a number of variables into account. It is not possible to assign an exact cost to any particular mission