HEA review of governance at University of Limerick to include potential conflicts of interest

A Higher Education Authority (HEA) review of governance and oversight issues at the University of Limerick (UL) will closely examine potential conflicts of interest, relationships and cultures at the institution.

The authority has concerns about UL staff being ignored after raising questions about a controversial property deal.

The Irish Independent is aware of at least four different cases where staff questioned the transaction but were ignored or undermined.

In a letter sent to UL chancellor Brigid Laffan on Wednesday, HEA chief executive Alan Wall said he has “significant concerns” about potential shortcomings at the university and its use of public funds.

This comes after UL admitted it paid €5.2m more than it should have for 20 homes at Rhebogue on the outskirts of Limerick city last year.

As part of the HEA’s review, “policy, control and risk management failures” leading to the financial impairment will be evaluated alongside potential conflicts of interest.

“The disclosure and management of conflicts of interest practices” at UL, its subsidiary companies and any transactions or series of transactions totalling €500,000 or more will be examined, Mr Wall wrote in the letter released under freedom of information.

“A review of the relationships within the executive, between the executive, management, and UL staff, staff of UL subsidiaries, students and internal and external stakeholders in terms of transparency and trust in decision making” will also be carried out.

The review is being sought under special powers granted to the authority under the HEA Act. These mean UL has 60 days to facilitate the review. A 30-day extension may be granted if necessary.

Consideration will be given to “any potential inhibiting factors in terms of communication, relationships and culture, and any other relevant factors, which may have caused the due diligence carried out to fall short of appropriate standards”, Mr Wall wrote.

External bodies are also being hired to examine UL’s cultures, how the university manages protected disclosures and to conduct a “full lifecycle” review of capital projects and historic property transactions.

UL will also have to grant external parties access to the Rhebogue properties for an independent valuer to assess them and provide a detailed valuation for the HEA.

The terms of reference for these reviews come after the HEA had consultants Avison Young carry out a preliminary report on similar matters.

This report found staff raised concerns early in the deal approval process but UL continued with the transaction.

Valuations around the deal were also criticised in this report.

“It would be our view that UL requested that the appointed valuation firms prepare valuation reports on the Rhebogue property based on their maximum hypothetical value as student accommodation,” Avison Young said.

The consultants’ report said valuations should have been compiled differently to give UL a minimum and maximum range before negotiating a price. It said the negotiation strategy was flawed.

Financial and corporate governance concerns were also raised in a separate fact finding review carried out for UL by Niamh Donoghue, a former secretary general at the Department of Social Protection.

She found decisions were made to approve the deal without a full awareness of risks associated with the Rhebogue plans.

She said financial information on the cost of the scheme was not presented clearly to UL’s governing authority, a board responsible for crucial planning and policy decisions.

UL said it will work with the HEA on a review of the Rhebogue deal and governance issues at the university but it would not be appropriate to comment on these issues until those reports are compiled.

Get ahead of the day with the morning headlines at 7.30am and Fionnán Sheahan’s exclusive take on the day’s news every afternoon, with our free daily newsletter.