FOURTEEN highly-trained air corps pilots are tasked full-time with providing air transport for government ministers and the President.

The 14 pilots are joined by 10 ground and flight attendants whose main responsibility is in ensuring the seamless operation of the country's Ministerial Air Transport VIP service.

The salary bill for the 24 people involved in ferrying the politicians around the world is estimated at €1.08m each year in wages and flying pay, sources said.

Six of the pilots are tasked full-time with manning the Gulfstream IV aircraft, which costs the taxpayer €7,890 for every hour in the air.

Another six work on the government's second private jet – a Learjet 45 – which has an hourly running cost of around €3,000. Four more pilots work on the Beechcraft, an airplane more regularly used in training exercises, while 10 more are employed as "flight/ground attendants".

One military source said: "The air corps is effectively the largest private flying club in Europe. They do not have the equipment to do their primary jobs in defending Ireland's air space or carrying out search and rescue, so effectively they are left with this main job as VIP transport."

The Department of Defence said that the 24 people involved could be diverted to other tasks if they weren't required for the VIP transport service.

A department spokesperson said: "A number of the Ministerial Air Transport staff are also assigned to various administrative appointments within the air corps, which are not directly related to the provision of the Ministerial Air Transport service."

The air corp's helicopters are also used from time to time for internal travel at an estimated annual cost of €80,000 per year.

The department said that the amount of flying hours involved in ministerial transport had shown a decline over the past five years from 844 hours to 680 hours.

However, the number of missions being flown increased from 158 to 191 in 2008, with the estimated total cost last year of around €3.6m.