Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Where appropriate, scheduled flights are used by Ministers. In addition, use is made of the ministerial air transport service when it is the only way for a Minister to travel to meetings and carry out his or her ministerial functions. It offers the type of flexibility that scheduled flights cannot provide. It is not tied to set routes or timetables. The jet can also use military as well as civil airports and it can lead to significant savings in travel time.

When considering applications for the use of Government jets, regard is had to the availability of scheduled flights as well the differences in financial costs and levels of emissions. A balance has to be struck. Even though sometimes there may be significant cost differentials, other factors such as the level of flexibility available, the purpose of the travel, destination, route, timings and passenger details warrant use of a Government jet as opposed to alternative scheduled flights. They are used, as the Deputy knows, interchangeably.

Regarding the Gulfstream, as the Deputy knows, it has been in service for 17 or 18 years and has an annual overhaul as required by the service guidelines applying to it. It is operational and is kept in proper repair by the Air Corps.

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