'Sadness and anger' at damage housing controversy 'has done to UL’s reputation'
Linehan University Picture: Limerick The Dan Of
Staff and students at the University of Limerick (UL) were “justifiably shocked” at the news the college had paid more than €5m more for 20 houses than they were worth, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hear on Thursday.
Deputy president and provost of UL Shane Kilcommins will tell the Public Accounts Committee that there is “sadness and anger too at the damage that the Rhebogue controversy has done to UL’s reputation”, adding that he is “deeply sorry for what has happened”.
He will explain that the final impairment charge that UL must incur on foot of the Rhebogue transaction will be €5.2m.
UL first purchased the 20 houses from Silvergrove Developments in August 2022 for about €12m.
Mr Kilcommins will note, however, that “not everyone thought Rhebogue was a good idea” at the time. He will say that although the then-governing authority approved the transaction, “key information” relating to planning risks and valuations was not provided to its members in order for them “to make an informed decision”.
He will add that the authority was also “given to understand” that key individuals were fully supportive of the transaction, which was co-sponsored by chief corporate officer Andrew Flaherty and chief financial officer Gary Butler, “but this was not the case”.
As well as the vast over-valuation, the Rhebogue houses are subject to a planning enforcement order on behalf of Limerick City and County Council, as well as a further stamp duty liability.
Mr Kilcommins will say that as soon as the stamp duty and over-valuation discrepancies emerged the Rhebogue transaction was immediately referred to UL’s audit and risk committee, which commissioned a fact-finding review conducted by Niamh O’Donoghue, the former secretary general of the Department of Social Protection.
That review identified “a series of shortcomings in the due diligence process around the acquisition”, Mr Kilcommins will tell the PAC, which amounted to “an override of management controls and concerns expressed about this acquisition were not adequately considered”.
Mr Kilcommins was at the centre of a controversy following UL’s last appearance — which was sharply criticised for the performance of college president Kerstin Mey — at the PAC last May, when appearing to vacate his post as provost for reasons unknown, only to remain in situ following a series of frenzied behind-the-scenes meetings.
He is representing UL at the PAC in the stead of Ms Mey, who went on sick leave in March, with the university having delayed its scheduled appearance at the committee on April 11 due to that absence.
Ms Mey’s sick leave is due to expire on May 9. It is unclear at present whether or not it will be extended.
Meanwhile, university chancellor Brigid Laffan, who was appointed last November before the Rhebogue scandal broke, will tell the PAC that she “will not ask you to trust us or tell you that there is no need for considerable change within UL” given the scale of the controversy.
“You should judge us by our actions and results,” she will say. She will note further that the price paid for Rhebogue — a place which has “dominated” her chancellorship despite her having “never heard of” it prior to taking the role — was €539,000 more than sanctioned by the governing authority.
UL is currently the subject of heightened scrutiny by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on foot of its governance problems. The HEA last week requested that the governing authority undertake a comprehensive review of those issues.