THE NATIONAL College of Ireland is in “a very difficult” financial position, its financial director has said.
Giving evidence at an Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday, Ciaran McGivern said the college was in the process of making 10 staff members redundant and was asking the remaining workforce to take pay cuts.
The college moved to a new €25 million campus in the International Financial Services Centre, in Dublin. It offers degree and diploma courses in subjects including accountancy, community studies, computing and finance. About 5,000 full- and part-time students attend. The college has more than 130 full-time and 220 part-time staff.
Barbara Keegan, former executive assistant to the college’s two vice-presidents, has taken an unfair dismissal case against the college. She was laid off after both of the vice-presidents left their posts and were not replaced.
Her counsel, Ciara O’Duffy, said she had been unfairly chosen for redundancy and should have been redeployed within the college.
She took up employment in April 2008 and was laid off on December 2009, with a €3,000 ex-gratia payment because she was not entitled to statutory redundancy.
Mr McGivern said her role was not likely to be filled. The college was looking to make a further 10 people redundant. Eight had already left and two would be leaving at the end of November.
“From a financial point of view, the college is going through a very difficult time,” Mr McGivern said.
He said it received only 35 per cent of its funding from the Department of Education. Staff were being asked to take pay cuts of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent, he said. The case continues.
