The secretary-general of the Department of Health has denied that he approved funding for Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan's secondment to Trinity College without the go-ahead from Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.
Robert Watt told the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday morning that details of the proposal for the open-ended secondment still needed to be worked out when he sent a letter to the Dublin university on March 16.
"There's no basis upon which I can approve spending for new areas of spending without the approval of the minister - I don't have that authority," he said.
