Results 19,981-20,000 of 32,978 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

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 (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: -----and, second, it was the university that represented what was going on. That matter needs to be teased out. We have the president before us. I am all for accountability, but certainly the university represented the information and stood over this activity.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I welcome the witnesses. Mr. Beausang sent a letter with a number of questions. Is that right?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Mr. Beausang is waiting for the body to meet and to refer back to him.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: What were the significant concerns?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Prior to that, the HEA had not identified significant concerns.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Significant concerns were not identified by the Higher Education authority or the Department prior to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: When was that report released?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: The issues had been raised at the Committee of Public Accounts.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: There was no proactive work by the Department or the HEA on this.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Will the witness come back to my question? It was about the fact that there was no proactive recognition of possible problems on the ground. The feeling I get, and this has arisen with different institutions, is that development is good, spin-off companies and commercialisation are very good, but there is no oversight. One questions that at one's peril. It arose again today with Professor...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: And conflicts of interest.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Was the code of governance in 2009 robust enough at that time?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Was one of the aims to communicate to each staff member the institute's policies on dealing with conflicts of interest? Am I right? I refer to the 2009 code of governance for institutes.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: That was not brought in at Waterford Institute of Technology until 2014. Am I right that there was a delay?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: There was an obligation on Waterford IT at that point in 2009.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: What is the process when the Department gets the replies back?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: There are two things here, therefore. One is to explore further what happened in Waterford and the other is to be in a position to put in place a very robust framework of governance for the future.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Professor Donnelly said it was many years ago. I do not accept that answer as a member of this committee. It is unacceptable to give that answer. Serious issues have been identified. My colleague has gone through them as he is far more familiar with the matter. I have read the report. The equity was reduced from 15% to 10% but there is no documentation. Does Professor Donnelly accept...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry (24 Jan 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Dr. O'Sullivan can comment but I want an answer from Professor Donnelly.