Results 7,681-7,700 of 26,430 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: We understand that but that is not the point.

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: I will have to hold Mr. Field there, because at that point we had no review.

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: I will bring in the Higher Education Authority, HEA. This is my final question on this issue, and I will come back to the second issue. I raised the issue of a separate internal review into a different issue in another institute when other institutes were present in previous sittings. Given what has been outlined, would Dr. Love be satisfied that having internal reviews in institutes is...

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Would Dr. Love say, as a matter of practice, that in most cases it would be better if the reviews were external rather than internal?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: My second question is to get clarity from Professor Barry. How many spin-out companies are there in the University of Limerick?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Even the ones that are there at the moment? So Professor Barry is saying there are two-----

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Two per year, okay. What is the average percentage shareholding that the university has in these companies?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: I understand that as I have been through this process with other institutes. I am asking for specific reasons. I am hearing that the average is 15%. While it can be diluted if the venture funds require it, on average, it would be about 15%. Who would have responsibility for management of conflicts of interest and for protecting the interests of the institute or university in Professor...

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: The vice president for research. Can I stop Professor Barry there for a moment? The vice president for research obviously has a governance role. Were there any situations in which the vice president for research in Professor Barry's institute was a director or shareholder in any of these spin-out companies?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Why not?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: If the head of research at Professor Barry's institute was a director and shareholder in several spin-out companies in his organisation, would he see that as a conflict of interest?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: I thank Professor Barry for the answer. I ask that it be noted by the Chair and the secretariat that the presidents of both UCC and UL have stated it would be their view that there would be a strong conflict of interest if the head of research-----

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: A potential conflict of interest, if the head of research in their institutes was a shareholder in multiple spin-out companies located in their institutes. I want that noted in the record.

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: I have a few questions for Professor Barry. Given that he has been in the institute for a long number of years, given that we have information that was brought to his attention by people who have been characterised as whistleblowers, given that there was an internal review and then an external review, and given everything Professor Barry has seen since then, would it be his position that...

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Would he be of the view that there was any wrongdoing by any individuals in claiming expenses in his organisation?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Is Professor Barry aware of the statement that ignorance is no defence in law? It is no defence simply to claim one is unaware of the rules. Is it his view that there was any wrongdoing by individuals in his organisation relating to claiming expenses? He is talking around these issues and not being direct about them. If an organisation is to learn lessons from something like this, the...

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: My understanding of wrongdoing may be different from Professor Barry's. What I am hearing from him is that he does not believe there was any abuse of the system, nor any intentional wrongdoing by anybody. If there was any wrongdoing it was because people did not understand the processes relating to the rules. Certainly he would not agree that there was any level of corruption with a small...

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Professor Barry can reject that and he is entitled to do so, but I am saying that he rejects that there was any level of corruption or that there was any level of wrongdoing by individuals intentionally or maliciously, to use that word that Professor Barry used in a different context. He rejects there was any abuse. Does he accept then that there were financial control failures?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Does he accept there were control lapses?

Public Accounts Committee: University of Limerick: Financial Statements 2014-2015 (30 Mar 2017)

David Cullinane: Who is responsible for system failures and control lapses?