State’s €130k bill for VIP airport welcome

THE Department of Foreign Affairs has spent more than €130,000 providing VIP airport services to visiting dignitaries, diplomats, and other high-profile visitors during the last four years.

The bill so far this year has already exceeded €55,000 after a spike in the number of foreign politicians coming to Ireland, which has been blamed in part on the fallout from Brexit by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Two princesses, the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and a host of foreign leaders including Justin Trudeau and Theresa May have been treated to the ‘platinum’ service at Dublin Airport.

The VIP service was also extended to the family of Ibrahim Halawa, and to Tiede Herrema, the Dutch industrialist kidnapped by the IRA in the 1970s.

The cost of the platinum service ranges from €185 to €225 per person, according to the Dublin Airport Authority website.

As part of their VIP service, they offer a 24-hour ‘private terminal’ at the airport, far away from lengthy security queues, passport control, and check-in desks.

The largest individual bill run up by the Iveagh House was €10,000 paid for a delegation led by thenUS Vice President Joe Biden in 2016. A large five-figure bill was run up in 2014 when delegations from across Europe visited Ireland for the European People’s Party Congress, a two-day event hosted by Fine Gael.

Three separate bills of €5,000 were accrued for the state visits of the French President Francois Hollande, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May, and the Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

The Department also paid the costs for two visiting princesses from Thailand and from Japan.

While most of those hosted were ministers, presidents, and PMs, the Department also extended the red carpet to several diplomats and a religious leader.

A bill of €1,680 was run up when the Coptic Pope His Holiness Tawadros II of Alexandria came to Ireland on a five-day visit in May.

The DAA also billed €415 for ‘platinum services’ for the family of Ibrahim Halawa, after he returned to Ireland from Cairo in October. In 2016, a tab of €480 was also paid by the Department for Dutch businessman Tiede Herrema. He had returned to Ireland four decades after his 36day kidnap drama.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the increased bill for 2017 came about due to a number of factors ‘including diplomatic engagement associated with Britain’s departure from the EU’.

The Department said: ‘From time to time enhanced passenger services are also offered to others, such as guests of the government’.