The Union of Students in Ireland says its financial future has been secured after reaching agreement with the new owners of the travel company, USIT Ireland.
Under the agreement, USI is to be paid €5 million over the next nine years by USIT Ireland, which is now owned by the venture capital company ION Equity. USI will also be paid a €381,000 lump sum as part of the deal.
There was concern that the collapse of the USIT group of companies might also put USI's future in doubt. USIT Ireland at the time of the collapse owed USI several million euro in loan notes. Yesterday the USI president, Mr Colm Jordan, said the deal had "rendered rumours of USI's demise both premature and inaccurate".
Also as part of the deal, the organisation is to remain in its Grattan Street offices rent-free for the next nine years.
"After a difficult year, we are now afforded the luxury of concentrating solely on our chief aims of increasing the numbers of disadvantaged students attending third-level institutions and lobbying the powers that be to increase the pitiful level of the student grant and boost levels of student-purpose accommodation," Mr Jordan said.
