Posted by The Times reported that the total of almost €500,000 over six months on private flights for Simon Harris included a single-day charter flight to Brussel, then Warsaw and a return flight to Dublin which cost €87, 576.
Three days after his ascension to the taoiseach’s office, Harris spent €87,576.58 on a single-day charter to Brussels, then Warsaw and a return flight to Dublin on April 11.
The head of Fine Gael was attending his first meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, followed by an EU strategic agenda meeting, co-hosted by Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister.
Harris chartered flights for nine trips between April 11 and September 5 this year with a total cost of €498,617.69.
Mattie McGrath said that the private flights spend was “like something you’d expect from a latter- day prince”, slamming what he said was “a sense of entitlement in the Coalition” in which their “own sense of importance is completely overblown.”
He questioned the need for this “excessive spending” when he said it was being incurred so that the Irish government “could tell the EU that it was doing its bidding and that the Cabinet was dancing to their tune instead of listening to the Irish people on a whole range of issues.”
The Tipperary TD said it was “laughable” that €48,074 had been spent on another single-day charter from Dublin to the Isle of Man and Cork in June this year for the British-Irish Council summit, where climate change was a main topic of discussion.
The Times said that “at the event, Harris said: “This is our neighbourhood and it’s really important that we have close dialogue, that we have an opportunity to develop those interpersonal relationships and to exchange ideas on issues that matter to our islands — and today there was a particular focus on renewable energy.”
“It’s actually laughable – spending more than a year’s wages for the average person on one private jet trip to then talk about climate change,” Deputy McGrath said. “But what’s not funny is that while the elites are enjoying these expensive fuel-guzzling luxuries to talk about how worried they are about the climate, carbon taxes are hurting people and making fuel more expensive and causing older people to fear turning on the heating.”
“These people are like those who used to gather in the courts of the roman emperors or the elites in the aristocracy,” he said. “Their attitude is, I can do what I like, spend what I like, I’m not answerable to the people. It’s a ‘let them eat cake mentality’ – and the next thing we’ll be hearing is that people aren’t allowed to get cheap flights to go on holidays with their families any more as its bad for the planet.”
The Times said that “in June, a three-day trip to Brussels and Zurich for the Ukraine peace summit cost €62,763.65. Harris also attended a Bloomsday celebration in the Swiss city, where James Joyce was buried.”
When asked about the €500,000 spend since April on private jets, a spokesman for Harris said: “The taoiseach and tanaiste regularly represent Ireland abroad at EU or international meetings where attendance is required by Ireland’s international obligations and is vital for the national interest.
“Charter air transport can be essential for attendance at these meetings and other occasions which frequently have uncertain schedules, or where flexibility is required to facilitate business obligations.”
They noted that Leo Varadkar spent €660,906 in a ten-month period from May 31, 2023, to March 22, 2024, according to figures held by the Defence Forces – and that Tánaiste Micheál Martin has spent €355,500 on private flights since May last year.
Who Watches the Watchers? 