Vol. 463 No. 3
370 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the expenses claimed by all witnesses for their subsistence in connection with and their travelling to and from hearings of the beef tribunal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6210/96]
The total expenditure in respect of vouched travel claims submitted by staff of my Department in connection with travel associated with the beef tribunal was £73,391.
Travel and subsistence expenses of witnesses at the tribunal were paid from a bank account under the control of the sole member of the tribunal. This account was also used by the tribunal to pay other day to day expenses incurred by the tribunal. A total amount of £177,318.12 was paid from my Department into the tribunal account.
All the records, including those of the expenditure by the beef tribunal office, are still filed with that office and it is not possible in the time allowed to extract the detailed information requested by the Deputy.
