Professor Brian MacCraith:

I became the third president of Dublin City University, DCU, in July 2010. Just 23 years old, DCU is a young and ambitious university. In its short life, it has grown significantly in scale and impact, with a student population of 11,500 and a ranking in the top 50 young universities in the world, that is, those under 50 years old. It has a well established reputation for both high quality research and innovation and proactive engagement with enterprise.

In achieving this level of success, we believe in operating to high standards of corporate governance. Despite the recession and the significant reductions in Exchequer funding in the past five years, DCU has achieved balanced budgets in each of these years. It is useful to note that it receives its funding from various sources, with 62% coming from the Exchequer and 38% from non-Exchequer sources.

Report No. 78 made several observations concerning DCU subsidiary companies. DCU Commercial Limited has 11 subsidiary companies, the primary objective of which is to generate income to support the university in delivering its strategic mission. The companies mainly provide facilities and services for the campus and some, owing to the nature of their activities, will not make significant surpluses. Nevertheless, by 30 September 2012, the group will have generated surpluses of €21 million, with €3 million being generated in the past five difficult years. These funds have been used to support the university and some of the subsidiary companies, especially at an early stage in their development.

Report No. 78 makes specific reference to three of the subsidiaries. First, the Helix, established in 2002, is a top class performing arts and conferencing centre which brings thousands of people to the DCU campus each year. It is at the heart of student life on campus and provides a wide range of facilities for the university and the local community, in a particularly deprived area. It incurred significant losses in its early years.

Given the importance of the Helix and its particular value to DCU, it has been supported by the other commercial companies and the university. Its balance sheet was repaired in September 2010 through a capital contribution of €7.4 million from subsidiary company profits, as approved by the governing authority of the university.

The DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship is a leading supporter of entrepreneurship and innovation in Ireland and a key element of DCU's strategy as a university enterprise. Owing to the nation of its activities, it will never make significant surpluses. In 2011 we negotiated philanthropic support for a four year period which will enable it to break even each year in that period. It runs many successful programmes, one of which, the propeller programme, created 49 new jobs through start-ups in the past year and a half.

Invent DCU, the third element of our strategy in innovation, was built at a cost of just under €7 million. It is our innovation and enterprise centre and plays a key role in our innovation strategy. A fund-raising campaign successfully raised 72% of the overall cost, which obviated the need to resort to bank borrowings. The balance of the funding is being made up by a contribution from DCU Commercial Limited revenues at a rate of €100,000 per annum for 19 years.

Report No. 78 highlights payments to university staff in excess of those approved by the Minister. Arising from organisational restructuring to take account of our rapid growth, allowances of just over €53,000 in total were paid over a 6.5 year period, between 2005 and 2011, to senior staff who undertook significant additional duties. All such allowances were terminated by us in September 2011. The HEA has also proposed a resolution of this issue which we fully accept. After consultation with the Students Union, DCU has agreed to allocate 50% of the amount to additional student services in the area of counselling, while the other 50% will be deducted from our future funding.