PaddyJoe
21-01-2011, 01:40 AM
The Higher Education Authority intends to withhold grant allocations to UCD in order to claw back unauthorised payments of around €6 million to staff.
From the PAC hearing today:
It had previously been thought that the university owed €1.6 million in “unlawful” allowances paid to senior academic staff.
However, the authority’s chief executive Tom Boland yesterday told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that the figure was far higher.
“We’re talking about €6 million over the period of the unauthorised payments,” he said.
In a letter to Mr Boland, circulated at the committee meeting yesterday, UCD president Dr Hugh Brady warned that an attempt to sanction the university would be “inappropriate, counter-productive and of dubious legality”.
Dr Brady claims that additional payments were necessary to incentivise “academic leaders” to take up senior positions, were “non-gratuitous” and were funded from non-exchequer income.
Mr Boland told the committee that he was well aware of the arguments made by UCD, but that they did not hold water.
“This letter really brings forward nothing new. It does not change the position that these payments were unauthorised . . . It matters not a bit that the funding comes from public or private sources.”
This is really going to escalate if the HSE do indeed withdraw funding as Tom Boland has threatened:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288008382.html
From the PAC hearing today:
It had previously been thought that the university owed €1.6 million in “unlawful” allowances paid to senior academic staff.
However, the authority’s chief executive Tom Boland yesterday told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that the figure was far higher.
“We’re talking about €6 million over the period of the unauthorised payments,” he said.
In a letter to Mr Boland, circulated at the committee meeting yesterday, UCD president Dr Hugh Brady warned that an attempt to sanction the university would be “inappropriate, counter-productive and of dubious legality”.
Dr Brady claims that additional payments were necessary to incentivise “academic leaders” to take up senior positions, were “non-gratuitous” and were funded from non-exchequer income.
Mr Boland told the committee that he was well aware of the arguments made by UCD, but that they did not hold water.
“This letter really brings forward nothing new. It does not change the position that these payments were unauthorised . . . It matters not a bit that the funding comes from public or private sources.”
This is really going to escalate if the HSE do indeed withdraw funding as Tom Boland has threatened:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288008382.html