Mr. Joe O'Flynn:

Inquiries were made of him about a number of the trips that were known about and the response was that these were trips in association with senior people within the public service, that they were study visits and that they were approved and funded. There was never the extent of knowledge that there is now about the number of trips. My understanding is that while a lot of trips were identified, he himself would not have participated in all of the trips. When we inquired into this matter after it came to light, we also examined his annual leave records. Some of the trips actually coincided with annual leave so, therefore, it would not have been captured within the structure of the organisation.