Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is not a case that when the jet is out of Irish airspace it is free to go where it likes. Presumably, there is a procedure in place for when a Minister who has been approved for, let us say, a flight from Dublin to Madrid on Government business then decides he has to fly to Rome on Government business. What is the procedure? Is the Minister free to go on the flight from Madrid to Rome or is he required to seek additional approval from the Taoiseach's office for the second flight? It would be helpful if we knew that.

I also wish to ask the Taoiseach about his visit to Copenhagen for the climate change summit. There was a report in the Irish Independent that the Government jet had to make two return trips to bring him to and from that event. Apparently, when the Government jet got to Copenhagen to bring the Taoiseach to the climate change conference it could not find anywhere to park and it had to come home and go out again to bring him back. That was a total of four flights when there otherwise might have been two. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, who is seated beside the Taoiseach, will be interested in this issue. I understand it is Government policy that there will be a carbon off-set for the use of the Government jet. Will the Taoiseach confirm whether the jet had to do a double run to bring the Taoiseach to and from Copenhagen? If so, has the carbon impact of that been calculated?

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