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Enda Kenny USA visit flight cost €66,325 euro

2

Comments

  • #32
    sbsquarepants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,810 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    statss wrote: »
    why is it a waste? do you know what was achieved in the US and the relative value of it compared to the flight cost?
    Bambi wrote: »
    You know how many govts would pay 5 times that for the opportunity of a PR event like this with Presidente Obama?

    Our lot waste money on lots of things but this is not one of them
    forfuxsake wrote: »
    Not a fan of Fine Gael, not a fan of Enda, not a fan of the household tax.

    but in fairness if it brings inward investment of €66,326+ then it won't have been a waste
    Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »
    Trying to get american businesses to invest in Ireland and create much needed jobs is hardly a waste.


    Have any of you heard of aer lingus?
    €66k to fly to that tosser to america is fúcking ridiculous. If they had of left him there it would have money well spent though!


  • #33
    Born to Die
    Closed Accounts Posts: 830 ✭✭✭Born to Die


    I can't believe that people are defending the cost of the flight. The reason for the trip is a good one but it is to be expected that the leader of this country would be breaking down the doors in any country that can provide investment and employment in this country.

    What is not expected is to be preaching austerity to the rest of us while using public finances in this way. Travel on an airline and put the money saved towards, I don't know, maybe an extra bed in a hospital or a special needs assistant in a school.


  • #34
    Dubit10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 609 ✭✭✭Dubit10


    the culture of deference wrote: »
    The cost of flying Taoiseach, Enda Kenny to the United States on the Government Gulfstream IV - under the Ministerial Air Transport Service provided by the Air Corps - was an estimated €66,325. This cost was borne by the Department of Defence.

    So there you go, the equivalent of 6,600 households who paid tax.

    What a waste

    Agreed it's disgusting and over the top. Aer lingus and other airlines run flights from Dublin to the States on a daily basis. This is just another sign of how out of touch the government is with the average person.


  • #35
    Mammanabammana
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 578 ✭✭✭Mammanabammana


    I love it when an OP starts a thread to try to get everybody worked up, doesn't think it through and gets ripped to shreds.


  • #36
    Dubit10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 609 ✭✭✭Dubit10


    admiralofthefleet wrote: »
    American companies have no interest in Ireland, and never have. they set up here because of a low tax base then once incentives run out they move to another country where they can pay lower wages

    This. And it's only a matter of time before the rulers from Europe bring us all into line with an overall corp tax rate and then they'll be otta here like a light.


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  • #37
    Freddie59
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭Freddie59


    statss wrote: »
    why is it a waste? do you know what was achieved in the US and the relative value of it compared to the flight cost?

    It's a fcuking waste. Full stop. Posturing and posing as all have done before him. The same would have been achieved through a normal (even business class) flight. Lead by example.


  • #38
    Freddie59
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭Freddie59


    Mammanabammana wrote: »
    I love it when an OP starts a thread to try to get everybody worked up, doesn't think it through and gets ripped to shreds.

    BS. He's pointing out the obvious. There is nothing to "think through".:rolleyes:


  • #39
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    sbsquarepants wrote: »
    Have any of you heard of aer lingus?
    €66k to fly to that tosser to america is fúcking ridiculous. If they had of left him there it would have money well spent though!
    The difference in image is huge. When you're trying to promote business in your country arriving in a government jet gives off a much more impressive image than arriving in an A330 alongside people going on their holidays.

    Besides, we have a government jet. If we're not going to use it for something as relatively important as this, what exactly is it going to be used for?


  • #40
    Born to Die
    Closed Accounts Posts: 830 ✭✭✭Born to Die


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    The difference in image is huge. When you're trying to promote business in your country arriving in a government jet gives off a much more impressive image than arriving in an A330 alongside people going on their holidays.

    Besides, we have a government jet. If we're not going to use it for something as relatively important as this, what exactly is it going to be used for?

    Sell it or free flights for our ever growing emigrant numbers, it is as much theirs as the governments.

    I used to work for a American Corporation and one of the first cuts made in the downturn was travel. If travel was required you had to ensure that you used the cheapest available option. The balance sheet doesn't look good then the expenditure needs trimming and by God our balance sheet as a country is not good.

    Just to add that we will never get out of this mess if there are people out there, that can, after all that has gone on still defend this detached exploitation of public money.

    It is just another example of the cloak and dagger sh1te that goes on in this country where politicians play politics to suit their own needs. we had it with the Celtic Tiger, the constant reduction in income tax was used to keep the masses distracted to what is really going on, very much the same with the Property Tax, another smoke screen as this weeks political scandal fades into the majority of people's memories.


  • #41
    Mammanabammana
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 578 ✭✭✭Mammanabammana


    Freddie59 wrote: »
    BS. He's pointing out the obvious. There is nothing to "think through".:rolleyes:

    I still love it. I don't care who's right or wrong. I'm kind of anarchistic like that.

    Also, if it's THAT obvious, how come there are so many valid points to the contrary?


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  • #42
    Logical Fallacy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,933 ✭✭✭Logical Fallacy


    Sky King wrote: »
    66,000 / 100 = 660

    If that money had been put into the education system the OP might know some maths.


  • #43
    Pompey Magnus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,406 ✭✭✭Pompey Magnus


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    The difference in image is huge. When you're trying to promote business in your country arriving in a government jet gives off a much more impressive image than arriving in an A330 alongside people going on their holidays.

    If British Airways is good enough for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the 7th largest economy in the world, then Aer Lingus should be fine for a bankrupt state like Ireland.
    Besides, we have a government jet. If we're not going to use it for something as relatively important as this, what exactly is it going to be used for?

    Sell it off. If they in such a bad financial state that they are willing to sell off Coillte then there is no justification for keeping a luxury like a Government jet.


  • #44
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    Pompey Magnus wrote: »
    If British Airways is good enough for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the 7th largest economy in the world, then Aer Lingus should be fine for a bankrupt state like Ireland.
    British Airways is a relatively "high end" airline. Aer Lingus on the other hand is known for mainly competing with the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet.

    Just because we're bankrupt doesn't mean we should send our representatives on a US mission. We need to look the part to attract business.
    Sell it off. If they in such a bad financial state that they are willing to sell off Coillte then there is no justification for keeping a luxury like a Government jet.
    The thread's about his recent visit to the US. As it stands, they had the jet at the time and they used it appropriately as far as i'm concerned.


  • #45
    sbsquarepants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,810 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    The difference in image is huge. When you're trying to promote business in your country arriving in a government jet gives off a much more impressive image than arriving in an A330 alongside people going on their holidays.

    Besides, we have a government jet. If we're not going to use it for something as relatively important as this, what exactly is it going to be used for?

    Image my arse! No one in America gives a flying fúck how he got to the country!
    I doubt Obama was waiting for him at the airport with his name on a card anyway. Enda's a liar, a robber and a squanderer plain and simple, just like the many liars, robbers and squanderers before him. He treats taxpayers money like its monopoly money. €700 a night hotel room while he's sucking up to Merkel and co telling them everyone in Ireland went mad spending money they didn't have! When enda goes on holidays out of his own money do you reckon he stays in €700 a night hotels? I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped off for a few charvet shirts on his way home.
    He's an asshole.


  • #46
    frank9901
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 111 ✭✭frank9901


    think of the money he saved on government levy and check in charges

    clever man our edna


  • #47
    ejmaztec
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,369 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    I have a sneaky feeling that the only deals Enda and the rest of the "Paddy's Day Piss-Up Jaunters" came back with, were the ones they picked up in the duty-free shop.


  • #48
    stimpson
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,711 ✭✭✭stimpson


    A Gulfstream VI seats 16 people. Works out at about €4K per head

    Dublin to Washington on Lufthansa Business Class works out at €3200 and takes 13 hours with a stopover in London.

    Don't forget he went to New York too.


  • #49
    Mammanabammana
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 578 ✭✭✭Mammanabammana


    sbsquarepants wrote: »
    Image my arse! No one in America gives a flying fúck how he got to the country!
    I doubt Obama was waiting for him at the airport with his name on a card anyway. Enda's a liar, a robber and a squanderer plain and simple, just like the many liars, robbers and squanderers before him. He treats taxpayers money like its monopoly money. €700 a night hotel room while he's sucking up to Merkel and co telling them everyone in Ireland went mad spending money they didn't have! When enda goes on holidays out of his own money do you reckon he stays in €700 a night hotels? I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped off for a few charvet shirts on his way home.
    He's an asshole.

    Yes but if he arrived into JFK on a budget airline you can be sure that plenty of people on both sides of the Atlantic WOULD have given a flying fuck and had a field day slamming him and the country for the Paddy way of doing things.

    The government's haemorrhaging of money while they continually rape the taxpayer and the vulnerable of society is disgusting and immoral. But the St Patrick's day Taoiseach's trip to the US has been a high profile state visit for many years. It's one of the few areas where a statesman (which, like it or not, Enda Kenny is) is expected to behave like a statesman. And tbh, if the government wasn't making such a mess of things in so many other areas at home, this would be considered money well spent in terms of the profile it creates of the country and the potential it creates for investment, businesses and possible employment here.


  • #50
    UglyBolloxFace
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,867 ✭✭✭UglyBolloxFace


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    one of the world's most economically powerful countries.

    The USA? Are you serious?


  • #51
    Min
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,550 ✭✭✭Min


    The state owns a share of Aer Lingus who fly to the USA, nothing wrong with economy class and they provide great care, great fare...


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  • #52
    krudler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,788 ✭✭✭✭krudler


    Meh, its using the government jet for its purpose, state visits, not ferrying politicians on their holidays, if it creates a few jobs or gets even one compant to etablish here its money well spent


  • #53
    kevinmcc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 682 ✭✭✭kevinmcc


    So how come in the UK, Gordon Brown uses Virgin Atlantic and Kenny has to go all out.

    What is wrong with supporting Aer Lingus?


  • #54
    stimpson
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,711 ✭✭✭stimpson


    kevinmcc wrote: »
    So how come in the UK, Gordon Brown uses Virgin Atlantic and Kenny has to go all out.

    Maybe because Gordon is no longer PM?


  • #55
    44leto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,137 ✭✭✭44leto


    stimpson wrote: »
    A Gulfstream VI seats 16 people. Works out at about €4K per head

    Dublin to Washington on Lufthansa Business Class works out at €3200 and takes 13 hours with a stopover in London.

    Don't forget he went to New York too.

    Thread/


  • #56
    Rented Mule
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Rented Mule


    UglyBolloxFace wrote: »
    The USA? Are you serious?

    http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-nations-with-aaa-rating/20110808.htm

    The economy of the United States is the world's largest national economy.

    Its nominal GDP was estimated to be nearly $14.7 trillion in 2010, about a quarter of nominal global GDP.

    Its GDP at purchasing power parity was also the largest in the world, about a fifth of global GDP at purchasing power parity.

    The US economy also maintains a very high level of output per capita.

    On August 5, 2011, Standards & Poor's, one of the premier rating agencies in the world, downgraded United States debt (basically financial securities issued by the US government to finance its fiscal deficit) to AA+ from AAA rating, a rating it first awarded the US way back in 1941.

    And this has led to a worldwide bloodbath in the financial and stock makets.


  • #57
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    UglyBolloxFace wrote: »
    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    one of the world's most economically powerful countries.

    The USA? Are you serious?
    He's not attracting investment from the USA as a state. He's attracting American businesses to invest in Ireland.


  • #58
    marketty
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭marketty


    stimpson wrote: »
    A Gulfstream VI seats 16 people. Works out at about €4K per head

    Dublin to Washington on Lufthansa Business Class works out at €3200 and takes 13 hours with a stopover in London.

    Don't forget he went to New York too.

    Get out of here with your logic and correct maths! People are trying to be outraged here!
    Regarding the British PM travelling BA, are they regular scheduled flights or do they charter the aircraft specially?
    This government are not flippant about the use of the government jet (unlike FF) and this case was justified as Stimson clearly shows


  • #59
    funnilenough
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 121 ✭✭funnilenough


    i like Enda,i think he's nice.i just wish he'd kiss the ground when he gets off the plane like he used to,so he did.


  • #60
    Dimithy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 351 ✭✭Dimithy


    stimpson wrote: »
    A Gulfstream VI seats 16 people. Works out at about €4K per head

    Dublin to Washington on Lufthansa Business Class works out at €3200 and takes 13 hours with a stopover in London.

    Don't forget he went to New York too.

    How much does the Jet cost when its not in use?


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  • #61
    Plazaman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,037 ✭✭✭Plazaman


    OP, wait till we get the bill for his China visit, you'll absolutley shít yourself when you see that.


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