UCD HAS offered to make a payment to support student services at the university in an effort to break the deadlock in its dispute over “unauthorised” allowances with the Higher Education Authority.
The HEA is seeking to claw back about €1.2 million paid in allowances to senior academics. But UCD president Dr Hugh Brady has claimed any such action would be inappropriate and open to legal question.
The authority, which discussed the issue at its board meeting yesterday, said both sides are now anxious to resolve the dispute – hopefully before a further board meeting at the end of next month.
But both sides have still to agree on the exact amount paid in dispute – and the university still does not accept that it acted in an ultra viresfashion. Under the compromise deal now on the table, UCD would make a without prejudice payment to support student services at the colleges – without accepting any liability for wrongdoing.
The UCD move has been made in conjunction with the student’s union at the college.
UCD says the money will be paid from non-exchequer funds.
Yesterday’s board meeting also asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to clarify the precise amount paid in disputed allowances by UCD and other colleges in the period 2004 to 2009.
Dr Hugh Brady has warned the authority that any attempt to impose a financial sanction on the university may be “illegal, inappropriate and discriminatory”.
The HEA is under pressure to impose sanctions on UCD after Labour Party TD Róisín Shortall accused it of adopting a “softly-softly approach” to the issue at a meeting last September.
It was at this meeting that the issue of a financial sanction on UCD was first raised by the Department of Finance.
UCD claims that the additional payments were funded from non-exchequer income. It says the incentives offered to senior staff since 2007 allowed UCD to generate an additional €50-€80 million a year. The Department of Education and the Department of Finance insist that all “unlawful” payments must be returned in full.
The €1.2 million in alleged unlawful allowances were paid over a 10-year period without the approval of the authority. A further €266,000 was paid in bonuses between 2005 and 2008 shared between 12 people.
At September’s Dáil committee meeting there was a major conflict of evidence between chief executive of the HEA Tom Boland and Dr Brady on whether UCD knew it was not allowed to make extra payments to senior staff.
