Professor Don Barry:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address members this afternoon. At this session, I hope to provide them with further detail on UL's financial statements ending 30 September 2015 and to address any further questions they may have.

As I approach the end of my term as president of UL, I wish to provide a brief overview of the university which it has been such a tremendous privilege and honour for me to lead over the last ten years. UL is a large centre of academic activity and student life and is home to more than 14,000 students, a full-time staff of approximately 1,400 and a range of high profile thriving centres of research, learning, cultural and sporting excellence.

Employability has always been at the core of our teaching mission and it continues to be a central tenet of our distinctive approach to higher education in Ireland. We pride ourselves on our reputation for delivering research that delivers impacts for industry, society and the wider community. As a university, we are committed to continually raising the level of ambition of our staff and students. We have worked through the difficult decade of funding constraints Irish higher education has experienced and remain in relatively good financial health mainly because of our efforts to build new income streams to sustain the university.

To deal with the matters at hand, I have provided a detailed statement to the committee in advance of today's meeting which addresses the matters highlighted in the invitation to attend, namely, the relationship with the UL Foundation, non-compliance with procurement guidelines and the HEA investigation into allegations regarding financial irregularities and HR practices. I hope to provide reassurance to the members that in respect of the matters raised and in the context of the recommendations made by the HEA-commissioned Mazars report, UL has applied progressive systems changes that have further enhanced financial governance and HR practice in the university.

The committee has indicated that it wishes to examine the relationship between the University of Limerick and the UL Foundation. Specifically, the question arises as to whether it is appropriate to continue to exclude the foundation from the consolidated financial statements of the university. The University of Limerick does not have formal control, exercise control or have a dominant influence over the UL Foundation in accordance with the provisions set out in FRS 2 and the statement of recommended practice. Following a review by the university, which is detailed within the briefing paper, and a 2012 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the university considers it appropriate to continue to not include the UL Foundation in the consolidated financial statements of the university. However, we recognise that philanthropic funding is an important resource in helping to widen the funding base of the university and we will continue to consider this issue annually when finalising the financial statements of the university.

As with all universities in Ireland, procurement within the University of Limerick is subject to legislative requirements in EU procurement directives which are enforceable under Irish law. Systems improvements introduced by the university in 2014 have enabled us to do a full, 100% review of all our transactions in 2014-2015. This review identified a number of issues, which in total amount to approximately a 2% of recurrent, research and capital expenditure. In 2014-2015, the university procured 98% of spend on recurrent, research and capital costs in line with procurement guidelines and regulations. As president, I am confident that the university has strong controls and systems in place and continues to introduce process improvements.

I turn to the HEA-commissioned Mazars report. In the briefing paper circulated to members, I endeavoured to compile and provide a timeline of the objective elements, events and processes pursued by the university in advance of the commissioning by the HEA of the Mazars report. As indicated in the paper, this has been a lengthy, complex and multifaceted process. As such, the background to the process is not a matter I intend to repeat to the committee in this opening statement. However, I assure the members that the University of Limerick is committed to an ethos of continuing improvement and it is in this context that we welcome the Mazars review and, in consultation with personnel and trade unions, that we have applied the lessons learned, implemented 12 of the 15 recommendations and are in the process of implementing the remaining three.

We remain mindful of the need to review our processes and procedures continuously in order to ensure that they adhere to best governance practice, both nationally and internationally. As a key education stakeholder in Ireland and receiver of public funds, we are always cognisant of the need to be accountable for our actions and to operate in a transparent and fair manner. We recognise fully that the expenditure of public funds must always adhere to the highest standard of governance. We remain open to new learnings and to taking on board perspectives as to how we can continue to ensure the confidence of all our stakeholders. I thank the committee again for the opportunity to come before the members. I hope I can provide any further clarity required and look forward to any questions.