BREAKING: UL trade union 'no longer have confidence in president' as 73 professors seek her 'immediate' resignation
Professors at UL cite 'a crisis in leadership at our university'
THE SOLE trade union at University of Limerick (UL) has said it no longer has any confidence in the college's president, Prof Kerstin Mey.
Members of UL Unite, which represents almost 900 staff at the university, held their general meeting last Thursday and this Monday afternoon, in a statement, they expressed "despair and sadness as to the direction University of Limerick is taking" as well as "outrage" after it emerged the institution lost €5.2m after paying inflated prices for 20 homes in Rhebogue last year.
And, also this Monday afternoon, a total of 73 professors at the college have called for the UL president to resign with immediate effect.
In a letter, seen by Limerick Live, which was sent to the university chancellor, the university president, members of the governing authority and members of the university executive, the academics wrote there is a "crisis in leadership" at UL.
"The recent revelations regarding UL's management of the Rhebogue development, must mark the end of the leadership of President Mey. For this reason, we are calling for President Mey to resign with immediate effect," it adds.
The professors all signed the letter in a personal capacity.
It has been confirmed that UL bosses will again appear before the Dail's Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, April 11 in relation to this latest overspend.
In an email sent to staff and students last Friday, Prof Mey admitted the overspend is "an issue of major concern for the university in terms of management, governance and reputation".
In a strongly-worded statement issued this Monday, UL Unite's convenor, Prof Eoin Devereux says members want an "investigation" to "identify those involved in this debacle".
"The ways in which the University of Limerick is managed needs to be radically overhauled," adds the statement which was sent to the UL chancellor Prof Brigid Laffan.
The intervention of UL Unite members comes a day after Limerick Live revealed that 10 members of the college's 13-strong executive committee have signed a letter calling on Prof Mey to effectively resign from the post.
Elsewhere, crisis meetings were being held this Monday by the Deans of the various schools of the university, and the faculty heads, in response to the disclosures.
On top of this, a union which represents some 4,000 postgraduate students at the college has called on UL president, Professor Kirsten Mey to resign.
Twenty homes in the city suburb were purchased for more than €11m - or around €550,000 each, on average, before any stamp duty. It has resulted in a financial loss to the university of €5.2m.
In the statement sent by Prof Devereux on behalf of UL Unite he pointed to the extra expenditure UL paid out on the former Dunnes Stores building at Sarsfield Street in the city centre. The college paid almost €3m over the market value of this prime site.
"The Rhebogue write-down combined with the write-down on the Dunnes Stores building is more than €8m. This is a shameful waste of scarce resources which might have been used to better our university and the student experience."
He wrote: "The mismanagement of University of Limerick cannot continue" and confirmed that its membership has no confidence in Prof Mey.
Prior to the latest news emerging about the overspend in Rhebogue, UL Unite surveyed its membership at UL regarding its management culture, and discussed the results of this at the meeting on Thursday last.
"The most striking feeling at our general meeting to discuss the survey results was one of despair and sadness as to the direction the University of Limerick is taking," he wrote.
In another development this Monday, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley said he believes the final bill for the houses in Rhebogue will come to more than €12.5m, with each property costing €629,000.
He said he had seen a property in the same estate on sale for just over a third of that - €250,000.
"This is incredible stuff. This is public money mainly, it's students money. We have a situation here where UL, who have been in before our committee on a number of occasions, not least in relation to a former Dunnes Stores site which was valued at €3m which finished up costing €8.3m. It's a case of here we go again," he told RTE Radio One's News at One.
"I would have thought lessons were learnt following the Dunnes Stores site which was purchased at more than double the valuation at the time," he added. "Did they do comparisons with other homes in that area? Did they factor in the extra costs such as stamp duty, any adaptation works to be carried out? Why were the lessons of the Dunnes Stores site ignored?"
News presenter Brian Dobson asked Mr Stanley whether he thought there was a valuation carried out of the properties.
The Laois-Offaly TD said: "We had them in the past saying they'd always say they'd have professional assistance and professional advice and they'd have consultants buying for them, and they'd have internal heads of management or property management. What professional valuations did they get? If you went on Daft.ie, if you went on the internet for five minutes, they'd have seen what was available. Did they do comparisons with other homes in that area?"
UL declined to comment.