Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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567. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the amounts received by his Department for the sale of the Government jet. [18164/16]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In July 2014, the Gulfstream IV aircraft, which had been in service for 23 years, travelled to the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (GAC) facility in Savannah, Georgia, USA, for its annual maintenance inspection. During this inspection, it became apparent that the servicing and repair of the aircraft would have involved a significantly higher level of investment than was anticipated. Given the number of flying hours achieved, the age of the aircraft and the expected repair costs involved it was decided that all work on the aircraft should cease, the servicing and repair of the aircraft would not be completed, the aircraft was to be withdrawn from operational service in the Air Corps and the aircraft would not be returned back to Ireland.

With the assistance of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, the Department of Defence concluded the sale of the aircraft on an “as seen” basis with a US based company, Journey Aviation, based in Florida, USA in December 2014. The amount received by the Department of Defence for the sale of the Government Jet was US$500,000. In addition, the sale of related spare parts for the aircraft to Journey Aviation also on an “as seen” basis took place in February 2015 for a sum of US $60,000.