THE newly appointed director of Fás racked up a personal overseas travel bill of close to €50,000 last year in his former role as chief executive of Tourism Ireland.

Paul O'Toole, who had been at the helm of the all-Ireland tourism body since July 2001, takes over the position at Fás from Rody Molloy, who was forced to resign amid controversy about excessive spending on transatlantic junkets.

Details made available to the Sunday Tribune show O'Toole brought minister for arts, sport and tourism Martin Cullen to last September's Ryder Cup where the two men incurred flight and accommodation costs of €16,395.

A business-class flight for the minister to Chicago, paid in full by Tourism Ireland, cost €4,851 with a connecting flight to Louisville, Kentucky costing €102.

Martin Cullen's hotel bill for five nights at the exclusive Hotel Galt House cost €3,410 in September, less than a month before his colleague Brian Lenihan would announce an early budget in which swingeing cuts and an income levy were introduced.

Cullen's private secretary, John Conroy, also travelled to the Ryder Cup, with flights costing €3,890 and accommodation at the Galt House coming in at €2,304.

O'Toole accompanied the minister and his private secretary to the golf tournament and his business-class flights to the tournament cost €5,546.

Tourism Ireland did not specify what hotel their chief executive had stayed in whilst in Kentucky but the bill there came to €2,239.56. The trip was designated as an "inward golf promotion" and was aimed at attracting American golfing tourists to Ireland.

A statement said: "Tourism Ireland hosted and paid for minister Cullen and his private secretary, John Conroy, regarding their attendance at the 37th Ryder Cup at Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky from 17-22 September 2008 in support of Tourism Ireland's golf promotional objectives in the North American market.

"The minister was a guest of governor Steve Beshear and Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson at a dinner where he addressed up to 1,200 people.

"While there, they met with top North American travel trade and business tourism representatives, key airline executives as well as with travel writers and golf media to update them on developments within Irish tourism.

"They also met with European tour officials to discuss the future of the Irish Open golf tournament. The minister also hosted a 'Meet the Irish' reception at Lexing­ton and the guests included golf media and trade VIPs."

The new Fás director general Paul O'Toole also made a number of other expensive overseas trips, flying to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

On his trip to Australia and New Zealand in March of last year, flights came to almost €8,000 while "other costs" came to €3,044.

In January, O'Toole travelled business class to South Africa on a trade mission, via another event in Switzerland, costing €6,826. Flights for a trip to the United Arab Emirates in April cost €2,434 while the airfare bill for another trip to New York in May came to €3,432.

In July, O'Toole again travelled to New York at a cost of €4,190 and his total personal bill for flights in 2008 came to a total of €34,164 with a further €14,820 listed as "other costs".

Tourism Ireland said they had strict rules on overseas travel, saying: "All travel will normally be by economy class and all staff are expected to avail of low fares generally available and plan meetings accordingly. Where particular circumstances prevail, business class may be approved, subject to the approval of the CEO/divisional director.

"The circumstances in which this may be considered are: length of journey, business meeting requirements, cost. Normal procurement rules should be followed, ie two quotes obtained, for airfares costing over €1,000."