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Why University of Limerick could face intervention by education authority

Overspending of more than €8 million raises question about internal controls

The University of Limerick campus.

Arthur Beesley's face
Arthur Beesley
Wed Mar 27 2024 - 06:00

Turmoil at University of Limerick over a costly student housing project has amplified concerns about the institution’s internal controls.

In January, UL said it should take a €3 million charge in its 2022-2023 accounts for overspending five years ago when it bought a former Dunnes Stores site in Limerick. That was bad enough, but only the beginning.

Now the university has admitted a €5.2 million overpayment when buying 20 student houses in 2022.

The total burden therefore exceeds €8 million, a huge sum that points to feeble financial oversight. But the reputational damage is greater still. Senior academics want UL president Prof Kerstin Mey to step aside and State supervisors are questioning whether the university can be trusted to manage its affairs.

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Prof Mey has lost the confidence of the influential executive committee that advises her: 10 of its 13 members have said they want her to consider her position because they doubt she will tackle the housing fallout “in an appropriate manner”. She has made no public comment, although a meeting on Thursday of the UL governing authority will be significant for the immediate future of the university.

All of this has raised sharp questions within the Coalition and the Higher Education Authority, the public body that supervises universities and their money. The HEA can intervene in UL, although its position is unlikely to be determined until the governing authority settles its response on Thursday.

[ University of Limerick faces threat to funding after botched housing project ]

The HEA Act of 2022 empowers the authority to impose “remedial or other measures” on a university where the HEA chief executive considers there are “serious deficiencies” in compliance with funding conditions. Such measures can include temporary exclusion from some or all categories of HEA funding and “revised” funding conditions or the “controlled release” of funding. Other measures include the appointment “of a person or persons, or of a body, to provide advice or assistance of a specialist nature” or “an admonishment or censure in writing”.

Questions abound. After UL overspent badly on the Dunnes site in 2019 and again three years later for student housing, it seems obvious to ask whether there were any further examples of wasteful spending. Even if there is nothing else, how exactly did UL make an error so grave in the housing deal after it was burned so badly on the Dunnes property?

UL is competing with three other universities for money for a new veterinary school. These ructions will not strengthen its case.

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