Dr. Ruaidhrí Neavyn:

My understanding is that the genesis of the DCS structure came from the creation of the development committee, which was a coming together of staff members in WIT to run student services facilities, including canteen, restaurant, facility support and recreational activities as well as accommodation facilities for the student body. I understand that this was effectively set up independently of the institute. It was considered to be a stand-alone, independent company structure. This appears to be the issue.

As to whether this should have been notified to the Department, one could argue that the answer would be "No" in the case of an independent structure. Given the Quigley report and the connectivity between the company structure and the institute, however, it should clearly be made a subsidiary, which is what we are doing. If taken from the pure legal perspective that these were independent, stand-alone companies, there was probably no requirement to inform the HEA or Department. This is probably why there may have been an information deficit in terms of the company structure from a departmental or HEA perspective.