Tighter controls have been implemented at a research institute at NUIGalway after a hundred thousand euro was spent to hire private jets.

The private flights were for researchers and academics at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, DERI, at NUIG, in 2004.

Some of the private jet trips brought a former Director of the Institute, Professor Dieter Fensel, from Galway to Innsbruck in Austria, where he also worked part-time.

Former President of NUIG, Dr. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh and current President, Dr. Jim Browne, who was Registrar at the time, were among the passengers.

Other expenses incurred include 154 thousand euro to send dozens of DERI staff to a luxury resort in Crete for conferences.

The figures are revealed in invoices obtained by the Irish Independent newspaper, through Freedom of Information legislation.

Current DERI Chief Executive, Michael Turley, says policies have been tightened since those expenses were incurred.