UNIVERSITY of Limerick Chancellor Mary Harney is scheduled to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on April 7 to answer ‘some hard questions’ about spending and governance issues at the university.
Among the issues that committee members want to highlight are expenditure of over €1 million on entertainment during Covid restrictions and a spend of €496,000 on strategic project change management and advisory services.
Public Accounts Committee Chairman Brian Stanley told last week’s committee meeting that there were some more developments with the University of Limerick and he proposed to put these on the work programme.
“Matters are far from being resolved there and there are a number of serious issues that might need further examination. I propose that we invite the chancellor, who is the chair of the board, to appear before the committee on the next occasion.
“On the last occasion, the president, who is a relatively new president, was put in a very difficult position. We have to ask the hard questions, but in some ways she was fairly new to it. That is not doubting her ability or anything like that, but she was dealing with a lot of issues that arose or started before her term.
Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan said there was no point in sending someone to be questioned by the committee who was not in a senior position to explain what was happening in UL.
She proposed that Ms Harney, “given the nature of her position and the duration of her tenure”, be requested to attend the meeting between the committee and the University which was scheduled for April 7.
“UL’s financial statements for 2019-20 should be available to us at that point,” she added.
Fianna Fáil TD Marc McSharry said he wanted to see how, during Covid, the university managed to spend €1.02 million on entertainment.
“I cannot wait to see the breakdown. Could the witnesses send us that? In the previous year, €1.7 million was spent but there was no Covid then. The university still managed to spend €1.02 million on entertainment in 2019-20, although half of the year was affected by Covid.
“It must have been party central down at UL for that period,” he declared.
“The other information I want to get is a nauseatingly detailed breakdown of the €496,000 for the strategic project change management and advisory services. In particular, I want a breakdown of all costs associated with the person who took up that role – moving to Limerick, being put up in Limerick, any settlement assistance or anything financially or in lieu.
“Was the person put up in an apartment? Were they looked after? Were they wined and dined? Was there a food allowance, a clothing allowance, a moving allowance or a travel allowance, and everything else under the €496,000?” Deputy McSharry asked.
