Chancellor of University of Limerick Brigid Laffan will address staff at the college later today as the controversy sparked by the purchase of 20 homes in a nearby housing estate continues to grow.
Staff will attend a meeting at 1.30pm, while at 3pm the UL Governing Authority will meet to discuss an outside review of the purchase that it commissioned.
In what is an unusual move, the HEA wrote to the chancellor invoking Section 64 of the HEA Act which allows the authority to act if it is of the opinion “that there are significant concerns regarding the governance of a designate institution of higher education, or the performance of such of its functions, or compliance by it with its obligations”.
The homes were purchased for more than €11 million.
On Friday, UL President Kersten Mey told staff in a letter that independent valuations confirmed that the university had paid significantly above market price for the Rebogue properties.
She confirmed that this would cause a deficit of in the region of €5.2m in the UL financial accounts.
Acknowledging that it was “an issue of major concern”, Dr Mey said the deficit in the university’s accounts would be funded out of its financial reserves.
The president’s communication followed a letter signed by ten of the university’s 13 members of its executive expressing no confidence in her.
In letters first publicised by the Limerick Leader at the weekend, 75 lecturers also wrote expressing no confidence, as did the UL Graduate Students’ Union. The staff union, Unite, has also expressed no confidence in her leadership.
These communications reflect deep disquiet and great anger among staff on the Limerick campus.
UL is the second university to have been subjected to the Section 64 provisions in recent weeks. TU Dublin, which has a deficit of €8.6 million, had a similar request made of it last month.
The Section 64 measure, rarely invoked, gives the governing body – a university’s non executive wing – additional powers, tasking it with examining the issues.
Yesterday, the TU Dublin governing body announced that the college’s Dean of Sciences and Health Professor John Doran has been appointed as acting president, following the announcement of the resignation of its current president Professor David FitzPatrick.
Professor FitzPatrick will leave in May to take up a new position abroad.
In a letter to staff at TU Dublin governing body, chair Charles Larkin said Professor Doran would be the lead member of the executive team who will coordinate the delivery of a TU Dublin Recovery Plan in partnership with TU Dublin governing body members.
“I want to assure you that the Governing Body and the Executive are committed to delivering the Recovery Plan to the HEA, to return the University to a sustainable financial footing for the future,” he concluded.
Also yesterday, the college’s Chief Operations Officer Denis Murphy announced his decision to retire.
The college said: “TU Dublin can confirm that the University’s Chief Operations Officer, Denis Murphy, will reach retirement age this summer. Mr Murphy informed the Governing Body this morning of his decision to retire at that time.”
