THE ELITE group of top academics who share some €50 million in salaries and perks are under intense pressure to take a voluntary pay cut.
Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has called on the group – which includes university presidents – to take the cut after the release of the new salary figures to the Irish Federation of University Teachers under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Higher Education Authority is investigating the exceptional payments made to several senior academics.
The figures, published in the Irish Independent, reveal that UCD vice-president for research, Professor Des Fitzgerald receives a package of over €400,000 per year. Prof Tom Begley, the dean of UCD’s business school, receives a basic salary of €250,000.
Other high earners included the UCD president, Dr Hugh Brady (with a €220,000 package) and the UCC president, Dr Michael Murphy (€275,000).
Mr O’Keeffe said these exceptional payments were allowed under the 1997 Universities Act. This, he said, allowed Irish colleges to attract “professors of the highest international quality into the system, to ensure it could enhance the overall research and teaching framework”.
University presidents and other high-earning academics have so far resisted demands for a voluntary pay cut. Yesterday, the Minister told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland: “I obviously would feel those on that kind of salary would take the appropriate action just like secretary generals have taken within [Government] departments . . . We would exhort them in those circumstances to take such a pay cut.”
Federation general secretary Mike Jennings said the higher salaries were “ultra generous” compared to similar posts at universities abroad, he said.
Shane Kelly of the Union of Students in Ireland criticised the “outrageous” figures. “This illustrates the systemic failure of our top universities to keep their costs under control. It is patently clear that the call for the reintroduction of third level fees is being fuelled by the inability of our universities to manage their finances properly.”
