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The inside of Ireland’s new €53 million government jet has been fitted out with cream coloured executive-style seating, polished wood panelling, cabin tables, and sofa-style seating.

New pictures show the interior of the Falcon 6X aircraft as it neared completion at a Dassault Aviation facility in the United States last year.

The images show a high-end cabin including a galley area, individual passenger seats, fold-out tables, a divan-style sofa, and private washroom facilities.

A status report from Dassault Aviation said the interior installation was around 90 percent complete by mid-September.

It said the final upholstery of the seats had been completed and that the seats had been fitted in the aircraft.

The work took place at Dassault FalconJet in Little Rock, Arkansas, according to records released under FOI.

Dassault Aviation was responsible for the design of the interior, while Dassault FalconJet in the United States handled the installation.

The Defence Forces said they did not have a breakdown of the aircraft’s overall price showing the separate cost of the base aircraft, interior fit-out, or completion works.

No extra changes or bespoke elements were sought for the jet, the Defence Forces confirmed.

An information note said: “There were no additional modifications to the interior design fit-out.

“As the aircraft was on the production line at the time of procurement, any alterations to the specification would have caused significant delays to the project delivery.”

The Defence Forces said this would have conflicted with the objective of acquiring the aircraft before the end of 2025.

They said there was no high-level correspondence between them and the Department of Defence around the interior or configuration.

“The project team was a mix of Air Corps and [Department] staff. The Air Corps members … did not correspond directly with any [Department] official outside of the project team,” said the note.

The aircraft has already been used on at least ten occasions for ministerial transport since March.

Six of the ten missions listed online by the Department of Defence were for the Taoiseach, two for the Minister for Defence, one for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and one for the Minister for Communications.

The longest trip was the St Patrick’s Day excursion to Philadelphia and Washington DC in March for Micheál Martin and his delegation with 1,010 minutes – or roughly 17 hours – of flying time.

The €53 million jet has also travelled to Madrid, Helsinki, Berlin, and Athens.

The Department of Defence said it had not yet calculated an average hourly operating cost for the aircraft.

In response to a separate FOI request, it said this was done based on a “full year of operational service.”

A decision explained: “This is considered standard for professional financial reporting to ensure the metric accurately reflects a complete cycle of maintenance, fuel usage, and operational mission profiles.”

A senior HSE official warned ambulance handover delays at emergency departments were a “significant patient safety risk” with systemic problems at several hospital sites.

Internal records detail how HSE deputy chief executive Damien McCallion said an ambulance stuck at an emergency department meant another patient waiting for help was at risk.

The documents also show plans for a Hospital Ambulance Liaison Supervisor service – designed to reduce handover delays – had repeatedly failed to receive permanent funding or staffing despite requests over four winters.

It said where it had been introduced on an ad hoc basis, significant improvements in getting ambulances back on the road were evident.

A briefing note said: “Out of the 34 hospitals listed, 19 hospitals showed an average improvement of 7%. The best was a 20% improvement in Cork University Hospital.”

However, repeated efforts to fully fund and resource a handover service failed, according to records released under FOI.

Last winter, the National Ambulance Service (NAS) experimented with using staff who were deemed unfit for their core role by occupational health.

An email said the CEO of the HSE had asked for three acute sites to be supported every day during the busy winter period.

It said the NAS was also supplementing alternative-duty staff with overtime when they could secure volunteers.

The message said: “Feedback from most acute colleagues highlights the benefits of the role which is now well established in many ambulance services across the UK.

“This is the fourth winter where there has been continued requests for NAS to place [handover staff] on site, however, the role remains unfunded (WTE [whole-time staff] or funding).”

The email also warned the current informal system was “unsustainable in the longer term.”

It said: “Given the specific skill set required, we need to select the right people for the role, and with the input of acute colleagues.”

In another email, a senior HSE official said hospitals were a “long way off” targets for hospital handovers of less than 20 minutes.

It said the health service needed to monitor “any outliers” with one hour plus transfers and facilities with consistent delays.

The message said there appeared to be “systemic issues” at specific hospitals in Leinster, Munster, and the West North-West region.

However, follow-up correspondence warned some figures might not be fully reliable as they were based only on ambulance vehicle movements.

An email from the HSE National Director Grace Rothwell added: “It seems that in the absence of the Acute Ops function there is little focus on ambulance delays at regional level as I hear the unacceptable delays reported daily.”

Asked about the records, a spokesperson said the NAS was undergoing a significant transformation to enhance service delivery, optimise resources and expand its role.

They said its base budget had risen to €285 million with a 28% increase in staffing and a €126 million investment in fleet replacement and expansion.

The spokesperson said plans for 2026 included around €20 million in new revenue funding, 263 additional staff, and four dedicated Hospital Ambulance Liaison Supervisors for the HSE West and North West region.

They said: “Where required, NAS can deploy Hospital Ambulance Liaison Supervisors (HALS) to individual hospitals to support crews with patient handovers and help resolve operational delays.”

The fleet of cars used to ferry government ministers and officeholders around the country cost taxpayers more than €8 million over the past year.

Some of the newest vehicles in the fleet are gas-guzzling diesels, including an Audi A6 50 TDI Quattro registered this year and three Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI models from 2025.

Two fully electric cars – both Hyundai Ioniqs – have run up comparatively low mileage compared to other vehicles which have clocked up in excess of 300,000 kilometres.

An Garda Síochána said two new vehicles were added to the fleet in the past year with one disposed of during the same period.

However, they refused to provide details of purchase or scrappage costs, saying the information was commercially sensitive.

The overall cost of providing the ministerial car service was €8.4 million, mostly related to the cost of drivers for the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers, and other officeholders.

An Garda Síochána declined to say exactly how many officers were allocated to the ministerial pool but said their salaries totalled €7.67 million.

They said information on gardaí who formed part of the Special Detective Unit (SDU) or the Security and Intelligence Section was protected under Freedom of Information laws.

A further €311,000 was spent on fuel while costs for maintaining the fleet – with some vehicles more than a decade old – came to around €436,000.

The largest number of cars in use for ministerial transport are Audis, with a smaller number of BMWs, Skodas, Ford Transit vehicles and a single Mercedes.

An Garda Síochána said they had no specific policy around whether to buy electric or hybrid vehicles for the fleet.

Records released by them list a total of 52 vehicles, 25 diesel vehicles, 25 plug-in hybrids and just two that are fully electric.

The two fully electric vehicles were brought into service in 2022 and 2023 when the Green Party formed part of the government coalition.

The first of them, a Hyundai Ioniq 5, has driven just under 70,000 kilometres, lower than most other cars bought that year.

The second – a Hyundai Ioniq 6 registered in 2023 – has clocked up just 27,708 kilometres, or the equivalent of only 9,000 kilometres per year.

Diesel cars remain the workhorses of the garda fleet, racking up tens of thousands of kilometres, sometimes in a single year.

A county council spent more than €680,000 pursuing a long-running planning enforcement case over a five-bed luxury home built without permission in its area.

Meath County Council incurred €642,696 in legal fees alone in relation to the unauthorised development saga at Bohermeen.

Costs surged this year with €408,702 in costs recorded as the council took possession of the property and demolition works were carried out.

A table of costs released under FOI reveals how bills began to mount for the county council as far back as 2007 when enforcement action first started.

The costs were minimal in the first three years before rising to around €17,500 in 2010.

Over the following three years, a further €47,000 was spent by the local authority, all of it on legal bills.

Between 2014 and 2017, as the case rumbled on, costs were minor, amounting to just €7,000 over a four-year period.

In 2018, legal bills suddenly increased to more than €81,000 before a lull in enforcement-related spending over the next few years.

Meath County Council said costs in 2022 hit around €28,000 – around €22,000 of that for lawyers and the rest in “miscellaneous” spending.

Between 2023 and 2025, its legal bills came to nearly €79,000 with a further €1,230 spent on direct planning enforcement.

This year, costs on the case exploded as Meath County Council finally demolished the illegally constructed house.

Its legal bills reached almost €375,000, according to a log of spending.

A further €33,394 was spent on security during the demolition, which was carried out amid high tensions in the area.

The overall bill across the twenty-year process came to €683,409.

Asked about the records, a spokesman for Meath County Council said the figures reflected costs incurred over “a prolonged period” in relation to the case.

He said: “The matter has been before the courts on multiple occasions over a number of years, including proceedings in the High Court and on appeal to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, where the enforcement position of the Council was upheld.

“The majority of costs incurred relate to legal proceedings associated with this process.”

Asked if it had any additional comment on the costs involved, the spokesman said: “As this remains an ongoing legal matter, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

A city council said bin-raiding by people looking for bottles and cans had cost it half a million euro last year, leaving already-collected rubbish strewn around the streets.

A briefing document said the Deposit Return Scheme, operated by Re-turn, forced staff to clean up waste from city streets twice over.

Its waste management section estimated that three hours in every 24-hour cleaning cycle were being diverted to deal with “bin interference.”

The document said the council had placed bin surrounds on receptacles to try and encourage people to deposit cans and bottles there.

However, these had little impact and were instead being used for general litter disposal including coffee cups, drink cartons, and cigarettes.

A breakdown of costs said Dublin City Council had spent more than €115,000 replacing locks on ‘Big Belly’ bins at a cost of €995 per receptacle.

The council had placed surrounds on a total of 110 bins at a cost of around €40,000 even though this ultimately proved of limited use.

It said there were ongoing daily costs from the Re-turn scheme with staff forced to remove torn bags, collect scattered waste, and return to areas already cleaned.

The briefing document said: “The estimated cost of this diverted staff and fleet time is approximately €351,000 per annum.”

The briefing – prepared earlier this year – said costs for Dublin City Council were already in the order of €857,000.

And it predicted a further €351,000 bill for 2026 as staff would continue to be diverted to clean up already-collected waste.

The document said: “These figures are indicative but represent a reasonable estimate of the direct costs currently being incurred … and are likely to continue unless a solution is reached to this problem.”

Dublin City Council said there were wider impacts including a “negative visual impact” on the streets of the capital and damage to the city’s reputation and image.

It said litter created a reduced perception of safety and had a “potential impact on tourism and visitor experience.”

The local authority acknowledged that the scheme had been successful on a wider scale, increasing recycling rates for plastic bottles and cans.

However, it said the impact in Dublin’s city centre had been limited with “no significant differences” in street sweepings collected.

The city council said the objectives of Re-turn were good but that it was creating “significant operational challenges.”

“The primary issue arises from the fact that returnable bottles and cans have become a monetary commodity, creating an incentive for individuals to recover containers from public litter bins,” it explained.

The council said one suggestion would be to restrict access to deposit rebates to households with registered waste collection contracts.

However, it admitted this was not a perfect solution: “While this may reduce opportunistic scavenging, it would also limit access to the scheme for some members of the public.”

The briefing was prepared ahead of a meeting between officials from the local authority and representatives of the Re-turn scheme earlier this year.

Dublin City Council included photos of bin surrounds stuffed with rubbish that was not recyclable under the scheme.

The Department of Agriculture was worried about “panic buying” of fertiliser by Irish farmers with the country badly exposed to the fallout from the Middle East conflict.

A series of briefings said Morocco, Ireland’s main supplier of phosphate, relied heavily on goods coming through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

It said that while there was production in Europe, countries like Spain and France would be looking after their own domestic markets first.

A briefing note from March said: “Ireland, as an import-dependent island, is structurally vulnerable.”

It explained how more than a third of Ireland’s annual fertiliser requirement was yet to be secured as extreme uncertainty grew over availability and price.

The documents said that proposed carbon levies on high-carbon imports like fertiliser had “ironically” left the country less exposed than it might have been.

Because the industry expected price increases, they had already purchased “significant volumes of product.”

The briefing said: “It is understood that there may be sufficient fertiliser stock to last to mid-April.”

It said many farmers had followed the same logic and had forward-bought product, meaning a price “shock” might be less severe than expected.

One briefing note said: “Large co-ops such as [redacted] said that they have sufficient stock to meet existing orders but have limited scope for new orders.

“However, there will be a cohort of farmers that will face a price squeeze for their 2026 fertiliser needs.”

It explained how some major importers and blenders had already withdrawn their fertiliser sales lists due to uncertainty.

Industry representatives said they were finding it difficult to source product and that there was evidence of price increases.

The document added: “This will lead to more uncertainty in the Irish market with farmers having little visibility on price and no means to ‘shop around’.

“Any element of ‘panic’ buying may reduce estimates of fertiliser availability.”

A fresh briefing from later in March said some co-ops were also hedging their bets, fearful of paying high prices only for the war to end quickly.

It said they did not want to get left with “high-cost stock” and that created uncertainty over fertiliser supplies for the rest of 2026.

Another official note prepared ahead of an EU meeting explained just how vulnerable farmers were to a major hike in prices.

It said: “Fertiliser costs vary by production system, but by way of example, on Irish tillage farms, expenditure on fertiliser accounted for more than 25% of the average tillage farm’s direct costs of production.

“On livestock farms, expenditure accounts for between 12% and 15% of direct costs of production and 6% and 7% of total costs of production.”

The note said Ireland would support European Union efforts to ease the burden on farmers by reducing carbon levies if needed.

One briefing from late March said that because Ireland had little direct trade with the Middle East for agricultural inputs, disruption to international supply chains was the major risk.

It said there would be “heightened competition” for supplies with demand shifting to the “safer trade routes” already used here.

The briefing warned of a “severe scenario” with a general shock to global supply and demand.

“This would pose risks for farm cashflows, margins and yields, with downstream impacts for farm incomes, feed markets, livestock and crop production, biofuels, retail food prices and food security,” it added.

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A business case for the State’s €148 million purchase of the Citywest complex described the site as a peaceful “exemplary model” of asylum accommodation just months before a riot took place outside.

The ‘Project Echo’ document – prepared by consultants KPMG – said the centre in Dublin had “notably” avoided the protests and unrest that were seen at other IPAS centres.

The report said: “This peaceful environment contrasts sharply with the widespread protests and incidents of arson reported at other locations.”

The business case also highlighted potential for major expansion of asylum seeker accommodation at Citywest despite public assurances that capacity would not increase.

It said the controversial purchase would allow for extensive reconfiguration of the former hotel to provide extra space.

It said the inclusion of two other parcels of land would also offer flexibility, with one potentially developed as a solar farm to supply energy on-site and another site available for accommodation or housing.

The business case said: “The Citywest hotel, leisure centre and convention centre all have the potential to provide for significant additional space due to the opportunity of reconfiguring spaces from original intended uses.

“Furthermore, the 12.14-hectare development site can be utilised for further IP [international protection] accommodation or the development of longer-term housing solutions.”

When the purchase was announced by government, however, the Department of Justice said there were no plans “to increase the capacity” there.

An information note said if any further emergency use or further capacity development were required, they would engage with local representatives and South Dublin County Council.

The statement added: “The purchase should not lead to increased pressure on local services or the community.”

The KPMG business case also described how the Citywest complex itself contained extensive empty space that could be repurposed for accommodation if needed.

It said there was “significant unused internal space” across the hotel, the convention centre, and its leisure centre.

The document said: “This reconfiguration wasn’t practical under a licence agreement but if the assets are purchased, the currently unused space will allow for ample additional space for accommodation, internal offices and associated operations.”

The business case said Citywest had up until then proved an “exemplary model” with an absence of disturbances.

It said it was an ideal site for accommodating refugees and was a “stable and secure environment for those seeking asylum.”

Last October, however, violent clashes broke out with gardaí outside the complex after the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl near the hotel.

The officer leading the policing operation later said the disorder had been “orchestrated and pre-planned online.”

The KPMG business case also said the outright €148 million purchase of the complex made most sense economically, with the Government later saying it would pay for itself within four years.

Not all documents relating to the purchase were released and the case has been appealed by Right to Know.

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The State’s ability to deliver billions of euros worth of transport infrastructure is being compromised by acute skills shortages, ageing workers, and a building sector dominated by small firms.

A board paper said productivity was still well below Celtic Tiger peaks and that there was poor uptake of modern methods of construction.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) document said delivery of Ireland’s complex transport projects – with more than €24 billion in planned investment over the next five years – was a “significant risk.”

It said: “Without targeted and timely interventions, Ireland’s ability to deliver on its infrastructure ambitions will be constrained by acute skills shortages, capacity bottlenecks, and rising costs.”

The paper said construction productivity was still “20 percent below pre-crash levels” and one-third lower than international benchmarks.

It said a “boom-bust dynamic” discouraged companies from investing in skills and technology while complex planning processes drove inefficiency.

The NTA briefing said there were persistent gaps in trying to recruit project managers, engineers, and skilled trades workers.

“Employers have responded with salary increases and hiring for potential rather than experience, but these measures alone cannot resolve the structural deficit,” it explained.

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Nearly 4,400 scheduled procedures for children were cancelled over the past three years for reasons including lack of beds, patients being too unwell, and clinical decisions.

Figures from Children’s Health Ireland show that more than 700 operations did not proceed because a “ward bed [was] not available.”

However, the number of surgeries being cancelled has dropped substantially, according to data released under FOI.

In 2023, there were almost 1,800 procedures that did not go ahead, which fell to 1,575 in 2024.

Last year, the figure was 1,031 and there were just 82 planned operations called off due to the unavailability of a bed.

In the past three years, the figures show that 463 procedures were called off because a parent or guardian cancelled them.

There were 395 cases where a clinical decision was made not to proceed and at least 21 surgeries where equipment was not available.

A total of 57 procedures were cancelled because there were not enough clinical staff available but there were none of those last year.

Children’s Health Ireland said 117 operations did not go ahead due to the unavailability of an intensive care or high dependency bed.

However, that figure has also dropped markedly from 70 in 2023 to 36 in 2024, before falling even further last year to 11.

There were at least 31 cases where a parent or patient refused to go ahead with a procedure.

The largest category of cancellations arose where the patient was not medically fit enough to go through with the operation.

Altogether, there were around 1,100 in that category but with the same obvious drop in numbers in 2025.

A very small number of operations did not proceed where the patient was uncontactable.

However, Children’s Health Ireland declined to say how many cases were involved because the numbers were so low, saying it could disclose information about individual people.

There were 424 cases where a children’s hospital was ready to proceed with a procedure, but the patient did not turn up.

Around 320 scheduled operations were cancelled where medical review found the child no longer needed the planned procedure.

At least 29 cases were recorded where a patient had not properly fasted from food in advance of their appointment.

Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) also logged 126 cases where a procedure did not go ahead because the child needed further medical assessment.

At least 11 operations were cancelled where the operation beforehand went over time.

There were also 116 cases where priority was given to an emergency patient and at least 21 instances where the procedure was carried out elsewhere.

The records also showed at least 14 cases where the hospital schedule was overbooked and a very small number of cases where there were technical works.

CHI added there were around 400 surgeries cancelled for a combination of several different reasons of the type already reported above.

It said they could not provide a breakdown of the type or category of operation that was planned in each case.

The children’s hospital group said providing that data would involve examining so many individual patient records that it would cause a substantial and unreasonable interference with its work.

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Fees paid to people sitting on interview and assessment panels for public sector jobs topped €2 million in the space of a year, with two individuals earning more than €40,000 each for their work.

Figures from the publicjobs service detail how €1.32 million of the total was shared among retired civil or public sector staff in 2024.

A further €544,000 was paid to people from the private sector while semi-state employees, mostly retired, shared a total of €160,000 in fees.

There was also a small total of €13,700 for retired academics, people from the charity sector, public servants from different countries, and other miscellaneous individuals.

The overall spend in 2024 was €2.035 million, which covered interviews, shortlisting, and other assessment exercises, including the 15,803 interviews carried out that year.

Two people earned more than €40,000 for their work on interview panels, according to figures released under FOI laws.

One retired civil or public servant received €43,365 while a retired semi-state employee was paid €42,525 in fees.

There were four others who earned fees of between €30,000 and €40,000, two from the private sector, one retired public servant, and one retired semi-state worker.

Eleven others earned between €20,000 and €30,000 – many of them ex-public sector staff.

The publicjobs figures showed that fifty people received in excess of €12,350 in fees for their work sitting on interview panels in 2024.

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