PhD controversy ‘an embarrassing setback for nation’

CONTINUED controversy over the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Dr Barry McSweeney, will be an embarrassing setback for the entire scientific community, one of Ireland’s most respected academics has said.

Speaking exclusively to the Irish Examiner, former University of Limerick President and Science Council chairman Professor Ed Walsh said unless the matter was resolved, doubts about the authenticity of Dr McSweeney’s PhD would damage Ireland’s scientific standing.

The PhD was obtained in 1992 from Pacific Western University (PWU), which is renowned for selling degrees.