The 26-day search to recover the bodies of the five fishermen lost in the Tit Bonhomme trawler tragedy off Union Hall in Cork cost the State an estimated €250,000.
That is according to the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, who said all the relevant claims have not been processed to date.
“The cost for the recent search and retrieval mission in Union Hall was in the region of €250,000. This cost covers helicopter flying hours, volunteer incident allowances and fuel costs, and the attendance of an incident manager.”
In a written Dáil response to a question from Independent TD John Halligan, Mr Varadkar said: “ It should be noted that about 30 per cent of these costs would have been incurred as a matter of course as both helicopter and volunteer training would have taken place during the period involved.”