Millionaire businessman Senator Edward Haughey rather upstaged the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, at the meeting of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body in Galway last weekend. Haughey, who was appointed to the Seanad first by Albert Reynolds and then by Ahern, arrived in his helicopter from his home in Co Down on Sunday evening, and landed on the helicopter pad between the hotel and the Salthill promenade. The Sikorsky S-76, which cost $12 million, has luxurious seating for six passengers and a permanent crew based at Ballyedmund Castle, Haughey's home in Rostrevor: it returned for the senator when the session ended on Tuesday morning.
The Taoiseach flew down from Dublin for a couple of hours on Monday to deliver an address on the North. As was noted, his Air Corps helicopter couldn't touch down at the hotel because it is not equipped for such precision landing. Consequently Ahern and his entourage had to be driven to and from Galway airport. And what's more, the senator remarked, his chopper is the only one in Ireland, bar the rescue and security craft, that can fly at night. The Sikorsky S-76 is not the millionaire's only aircraft. He also has his own Challenger private jet, priced at $25 million; and he recently bought Carlisle airport, no less, near his other castle in Cumbria. His wealth is based on worldwide sales of veterinary pharmaceuticals and he has close commercial contacts with Cuba where he recently met Fidel Castro.