TD likens UL purchasing Rhebogue houses to a Netflix mini series script
The matter was examined by the Public Accounts Committee earlier today
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.”
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.