Mr. Barry O'Brien:

No. Clearly, we operate under a Government approved scheme for travel and subsistence and under its approved rates and definitions. We can make available to the committee any information it would like on that matter. We do not have the detail on that with us today but the vast majority of our staff are not in receipt of any sort of a travel or subsistence allowance. However, a number of front-line service staff in certain very remote areas would be in receipt of such an allowance. For example, 60% or 65% of public health nurses, having regard to the area they cover in a working day, could be in receipt of a subsistence allowance for being more than five hours away from base. The rules are clearly set by Government and that is what we apply. In the past three years we have significantly reduced our overall spend on travel and substance.