University of Limerick is entering a period of "extreme oversight" by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) as a result of a "shocking and alarming" overspend related to the purchase of 20 houses in 2022, Chancellor Brigid Laffan has told staff at the university at a strongly attended meeting on the college campus.

Several hundred staff filled the UL concert hall despite the fact that the college is mostly closed for the Easter holidays, and others joined online.

Professor Laffan, who took over as Chancellor just last year, said two days ago she had received a communication from the HEA that no chancellor ever wants to get.

Invoking section 64 of the HEA Act, the HEA told her in a letter of their "deepest concern regarding governance and culture of the institution and the potential impact on its financial stability" and ordered a statutory review.

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In a statement tonight, the Governing Authority said they met today to consider matters related to the acquisition of properties at Rhebogue, Limerick.

It said it reviewed and considered the findings of a report that had been commissioned in February to establish the key facts in relation to the acquisition of the properties.

It said it has "determined that certain University personnel should be afforded the opportunity to review its content and submit written observations on its findings."

Once responses have been received, the Governing Authority said, it will meet to determine the appropriate next steps.

The authority also confirmed it received a written request dated 26 March 2024 from the Higher Education Authority asking it to undertake a review of specific issues in relation to the acquisition of the Rhebogue properties and in relation to general governance and culture of the University.

The authority said it is "engaging closely and regularly with the HEA to confirm the terms of reference for this review which are expected to be finalised shortly."

It pledged to "move quickly to ensure that the review and report are completed within the specified deadline."

Staff at today's meeting were told the HEA will be on campus for three days in April as terms of reference of a review under section 64 are established.

The review will be time limited, Ms Laffan said, and during that time the college will be under "extreme oversight". The final report will be published, she said.

Referring to the purchase of 20 houses at a grossly inflated price of more than €11 million that has left the university with a deficit of over €5m, Ms Laffan said the fact that this had happened so soon after a previous significant overspend on the purchase of the former Dunnes Stores site in Limerick city centre was "completely shocking and alarming".

UL President Kerstin Mey told staff in a letter that independent valuations confirmed the university paid significantly above market price for the properties

The meeting heard from a number of staff who expressed anger at the circumstances that UL now found itself in, and also concern about its future.

Eoin Reeves of the economics faculty said power had tilted away from academics to "technocrats who don't understand what a public university is - it’s to educate and to conduct scholarly work".

Professor of Finance at UL, Fergal O'Brien, said that silence from many in the audience should not be taken as agreement. "When I raised questions I was seen as someone who was trying to cause trouble. I was not," he said.

Professor Laffan said "I take that very seriously".

She said she could not give any reassurances around how the controversy might impact on future funding for the university. "I am not the funder. I am not the HEA," she said.

Professor Laffan told staff that she was going to ensure that what happened with the purchase of the houses at Rhebogue never happens again.

But she acknowledged that might sound like "cheap talk" because staff had been given similar assurances after the college had also been found to have paid significantly over the odds in the 2019 purchase of the Dunnes Stores site.

That site was purchased for €8.3m despite the fact that no formal valuation had been carried out on the property and that it had been valued at just €3m two years earlier.

After the meeting Sorcha De Brún, who teaches Irish at UL, said the meeting had been "very positive" but that there was a wider cultural problem.

"The keywords that were mentioned were accountability, transparency - as in, lack of - and bullying was also mentioned by Unite, the trade union".

On Friday, UL President Kerstin 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", Professor 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.

Professor Mey has this week taken sick leave.

The UL president attended an honorary conferring at the university on Tuesday, but did not attend the formal dinner related to the event that evening.

RTÉ News understands that Professor Mey submitted a sick cert to the college yesterday afternoon.

'Not a good look'

Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher and Education, Niall Collins, has said that the reported housing overspend by UL was "certainly not a good look".

"It's really not acceptable that we find ourselves in this space, particularly coming after a previous issue in relation to a property transaction around a former Dunnes Stores city centre building," he said on RTÉ's Drivetime programme.

Mr Collins said that he was first aware of it a number of months ago, when issues were reported in the local media.

He said that universities' performance and governance are a matter for their own governing authority and management, are autonomous and run independently.

However, he said that they have to comply with Department of Public Expenditure spending codes and guidelines and be accountable to the Oireachtas through the President of the university.

Mr Collins said that his department was continually in communication with the HEA and was aware of everything going on now.

TU Dublin has a deficit of €8.6m (Pic: RollingNews.ie)

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.

Prof 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.".