Navy’s UN trip across Atlantic cost €256k

THE transatlantic voyage by a Naval Service ship as part of Ireland’s efforts to secure a United Nations Security Council seat cost €256,000, the Sunday Independent can reveal.

The cost of the trip pushes the price of Ireland’s attempt to secure the prestigious role to at least €1m.

The LE Samuel Beckett and 55 members of the Defence Forces went to New York last September to coincide with a week of UN meetings which also saw President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and a small army of ministers and advisers push Ireland’s bid for a Security Council seat for 2021 and 2022.

As well as hosting a UNrelated event, the ship also held open days for members of the public and diaspora in New York and Boston.

The Defence Forces released details of the estimated cost of the trip under Freedom of Information laws. Fuel costs alone came to just over €186,800. Docking fees in New York and Boston were a combined €36,200. Subsistence claims and overseas allowance payments for personnel were €25,200 and other transport costs, including some flights, were €8,500.

Costs for the Taoiseach, seven ministers and their delegations to travel to New York in the same week came to around €120,000. They were there for a series of UN summits, including one on climate, and to promote Ireland’s Security Council bid. The Government had already spent €650,000 on the campaign before the massive ministerial mission to New York.

The President’s travel costs are kept secret and his office is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Prior to the LE Samuel Beckett being dispatched, Tanaiste Simon Coveney was challenged by Fianna Fail’s Jack Chambers on the purpose of the trip and if it was to “wine and dine UN officials”.

Mr Coveney defended the mission saying the ship’s crew would play an ambassadorial role, not just for the Security Council campaign but in reaching out to the diaspora.