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Sandra Quinn, 9 May
A MEMBER of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the debacle
around UL’s purchasing of the former Dunnes building and the student
houses in Rhebogue is “like a script for a mini series on Netflix.”
Tipperary Labour TD Alan Kelly described the university’s overspending
as being “incredible” and "utter madness."
The purchases were examined by the committee over the course of two and
a half hours this morning.
The university paid €629,000 per house, with cathaoirleach Brian
Stanley saying: “A five-minute check and someone would have seen that
houses are selling for half that price.”
At the hearing, it emerged that stamp duty also wasn’t taken into
consideration and this was pointed out by members of the committee as
being a basic thing to consider when purchasing any property.
TD Alan Kelly said: “It’s quite obvious there was a failure of the GA
(Governing Authority) to ask questions.”
Chancellor Brigid Laffan said that the Governing Authority was not
informed of a planning warning letter about Rhebogue.
“UL finds itself again in the glare of adverse publicity. There are
trust issues,” she said.
She is hopeful that the institution can come out the other side of this
scandal.
“UL will emerge from this as a stronger and better institution,” she
said.
Deputy President and acting chief officer, Shane Kilcommons, in
referencing both the purchase of the former Dunnes building and the
Rhebogue student houses, that “both transactions were poor
transactions.”
READ MORE: Information was lacking in UL's Rhebogue house purchase -
the PAC hears
Deputy Kelly said it was “utter madness” that people expressed concerns
about the Rhebogue purchases and it still went ahead.
Independent TD in Wexford, Verona Murphy spoke about the Dunnes issues
in comparison to the Rhebogue issues: “That was bad, but this is 100
times worse.”
There was concern among committee members that no lessons had been
learned from the Dunnes building purchase mistakes.
UL officials at the committee acknowledged that there are now trust
issues within the university and specifically around management and
that they need to rebuild UL’s reputation.