Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 June 2017

Public Accounts Committee

University College Cork and University of Limerick: Financial Statements

9:00 am

Mr. Diarmuid Collins:

It was for the governing body. Our assessment was to assure the governing body and UCC that the investment would pay off and, were it not to pay off, that we have some fallback. With the purchase of the 13 acre campus, UCC now owns an asset that is appreciating. We know from further down the road that sites such as one in Donnybrook recently sold for some €107 million for an asset half the size. Our site was €20 million and is an asset that is appreciating. Were there to be some hiccup along the road in the future a part sale of a piece of that campus could be sold or further leased on to recover any investment or downside that we could make. This asset gives us, in our view, a real mitigation of any risk going forward.