Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin:

My predecessor had a report prepared on this which showed that five serving officials and one retired official participated in a total of ten trips between 2003 and 2009. The sum involved in terms of subsistence paid by the Department was €6,200. All of the travel arrangements other than that were paid for by the SIPTU levy fund account. There was prior approval from the officials’ line managers. Any officials in the Department of Health involved in these foreign trips had line approval at the time. It is very clear there were also benefits accruing to the Department at that time.

To deal with the governance issue frankly, I am unhappy about the fact there were not effective governance arrangements in place to the period it was run by the Office for Health Management and the Midland Health Board and right through to the HSE.

The Vote shifted from the Department, however, on 1 January 2005. The position then would have been a matter for the chief executive officer of the HSE. I am quite clear that the participation of officials in the Department of Health in these processes was authorised, benefits accrued and the payments were in order to the best of my knowledge.