THE Department of Health has said it will not comment on any contacts between itself and Áras an Uachtaráin over the inadvertent release of expenses relating to President Mary McAleese.

Details of the President's travel arrangements on an official trip abroad for the funeral of Pope John Paul II were published in the Sunday Tribune last Sunday.

It is understood contact was made between Áras an Uachtaráin and the department last week inquiring as to how the documents found their way into the public domain.

All records relating to President McAleese are supposed to be exempt from legislation governing freedom of information and are not available to the public.

However, access to a copy of a bill, detailing a €3,198 cost for a single night's stay at the Hotel de la Minerve for McAleese, was sanctioned by the Department of Health.

The document had originally been released in heavily redacted form by the department on foot of an inquiry regarding expenses for health minister Mary Harney.

It detailed more than €21,000 worth of expenditure during just one night in Rome, but all names apart from those of Harney and one of her advisers had been blacked out.

The document was subsequently sought under the Freedom of Information Act without deletions and was released in full.

It showed, among other things, that a luxury suite booked in the name of Martin McAleese for the President had cost €3,198 and a room for Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was €1,200.

It is understood that Áras an Uachtaráin contacted the Department of Health last week to ask how the record became public.

"It would not be correct to say that any kind of complaint was made but certainly there were questions being asked all week about how this had become public," said a department source. "There was a lot of suspicion over the motive behind its release because the President avoided criticism of her travel expense while other politicians were getting it in the neck last year."

The Department of Health, however, declined to comment and would not say if any investigation was under way into the release of the document. A statement simply said: "Thank you for your email. However, the Department of Health and Children does not comment on contacts between it and Áras an Uachtaráin."