Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 January 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Special Report No. 103 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Remuneration of certain senior staff in the University of Limerick and Institute of Technology Sligo

9:00 am

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish to come back to some of the points made. I refer to the university's handling of protected disclosures. Has it reviewed the matter? It should fall to someone a grade above the person making the complaint. In one instance the review was carried out by people several grades below the person making the complaint. From experiences here, it strikes me that one cohort of more powerful and better paid individuals in a higher grade received enhanced pensions and handshakes and been moved sideways. Another group have really been the heroes in all of this in the better functioning of the university into the future in terms of checks and balances, governance changes and all the rest. They have paid a very heavy price in sacrificing a career or losing out on future superannuation or pension payments. Let me ask Professor Fitzgerald about the apologies made? I understand apologies were made to some of the whistleblowers but they were made in private. In one instance it was accepted that the complaints were justified and not malicious, while in the other the whistleblowers were thanked for coming forward. Does Professor Fitzgerald have a problem with making the apologies in public?

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