€1.7m funding withheld from University of Limerick over governance concerns
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The University of Limerick has had €1.7m in funding, 69% of its capital budget, withheld over concerns about its financial governance.
The university’s overall capital funding from the Department of Higher Education should have been €2,447,809 for the academic year 2021/22.
However, €1.69m of that funding has been withheld by the department’s chief Jim Breslin on foot of a series of scandals at the university, the most recent being allegations it had paid twice the market value in acquiring the old Dunnes Stores site in Limerick city centre for €8m in 2019.
Mr Breslin, the former secretary general of the Department of Health, told the Public Accounts Committee, in correspondence seen by the , that after consulting the Higher Education Authority, he had decided “to pause” UL’s payment “pending the provision of assurances by UL to the HEA on its capital governance processes”.
He said the UL governing authority, following a number of engagements with the HEA in recent months, had agreed to “undertake a process which would provide the HEA with assurances” that governance improvements instigated on foot of the controversies at the university “were functioning as intended and were subject to regular and robust checks”.
A spokesperson for the university said it had provided the assurances that were sought regarding its governance “to the satisfaction of the HEA”.
“The HEA is liaising with the department regarding the release of the remainder of the capital grant to UL,” they said.
Mr Breslin said he is “currently considering the position” regarding the remaining €1.7m in light of the assurances provided.
Some €757,809 had already been approved for release in August ahead of the new academic year to support “time-sensitive payments” regarding the provision of additional college places and IT supports for disadvantaged students, he said.
In June this year, UL commissioned consultants KPMG to investigate the circumstances which saw the university acquire the Dunnes Stores site on Sarsfield’s Bridge for €8m in 2019 despite the same site being valued at just €3m in 2017.
No independent valuation had been sought prior to the purchase. Mr Breslin told the committee the KPMG review has not yet been finalised, but that the university has “confirmed it will act to address any issues, findings or recommendations that are highlighted by that review in due course”.
In July, the HEA told the PAC it had been assured by UL that the acquisition of the 59,000sq ft site, purchased for the development of a city centre campus, had been a “good deal”.