THE former president of the University of Limerick (UL) has been placed in role where there is no course for her to preside over.
Former UL president Professor Kerstin Mey resigned from the top job this past June, following months of controversy over her appearances before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and her refusal to answer questions relating to the university’s overspend on the controversial Dunnes Stories site on Sarsfield Street and the housing development in Rhebogue.
Now, the PAC has heard that Professor Mey has been appointed a professorship in visual arts at UL – despite no visual arts degree existing at the Castletroy university.
Prof Mey has taken a year’s sabbatical since resigning the top job, a “goodwill” gesture from the university allegedly common when professors vacate a senior role in a university, according to UL Chancellor Professor Brigid Laffan.
According to the UL delegation before the PAC this past Thursday (October 3), Prof Mey is earning a reported €175,000 per year in her role of professor of visual arts, despite there not being a dedicated visual arts course at UL.
Chair of the PAC Brian Stanley said that the “optics” for UL, “don’t look good”.
“We have the former Chief Commercial Officer on special leave. We have the president on sabbatical, on €175,000, and she’s there for a position that, at this stage, the course is not available in the university for what she was hired for,” he told the UL delegation.
“And we have the we have the former Chief Finance and Performance Officer on extended sick leave since the June 5, 2023. The optics of it all doesn’t does look good.”
