Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin:

All I can say to that is that I have not been able to establish that there is any substances behind that claim. In one case, my Department did an exhaustive trawl. I think there was one case where there was one special allowance made available to a CEO of a particular hospital. To the best of my recollection, there was nothing in the file that would suggest there were any, if you like, nods or winks, if that is what the Deputy is referring to. I would be clear that the normal practice I would have experienced throughout my time in the health service would have been that a formal letter would have issued to the Department of Health and that it would have been responded to within a reasonable time by the Department of Health following consultation with the Department of Finance or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as may be the case.