Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action he will take in relation to unauthorised expenditure by universities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29786/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The recent report from the Comptroller and Auditor General confirms that over €8 million in unauthorised payments were made to senior university staff over the period June 2005 to February 2011. This is completely unacceptable behaviour and represents a failure in governance in our universities and is a serious breach of public pay policy. These unauthorised payments have been ceased in all cases. While these overpayments happened on the previous Government's watch, we are determined to ensure they cannot happen again. It is my intention, as part of the National Strategy implementation process, to strengthen legislation and put more robust accountability processes in place for the sector.

The HEA, acting in consultation with my Department and the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform, is making arrangements with each university covering the use of an amount of their funding equivalent in each case to the amount of overpayments. These arrangements will be directed towards improving student services and specific new innovations in front line services. It is an imperative that any action taken does not impact on students, especially at a time when resources are particularly limited.

It is also important to note that my Department has sought and received unequivocal commitments from each university that in future it will adhere to the provisions of the Universities Act. In the context of annual reporting arrangements provided for in the Code of Governance of Irish Universities each University is required to submit a statement to the HEA affirming that Government policy on pay is being complied with.