Lecturer who secretly worked for two colleges could keep pensions

A LECTURER who resigned from two colleges after it emerged he had been working full-time at both for eight years is likely to keep his pension entitlements, it has emerged.

Fergal O’Malley was employed in 1998 as a lecturer in electronic engineering at Athlone Institute of Technology but took up another full-time lecturing post at National University of Ireland Galway a year later.

Neither college was aware of the situation until the end of last month, when it was brought to the attention of authorities at Galway, which then notified Athlone.

Mr O’Malley resigned from Athlone on November 30 and from Galway on December 4, after the university had suspended him. It is believed that his combined salaries from both jobs was about €150,000, although the lecturer grades on which he was employed could not be confirmed last night.

Both colleges have initiated their own reviews but it appears that there are no statutory rules or regulations set down governing such a situation, which is a clearly exceptional case.

The Irish Examiner also understands that, because a pension is deferred income and as there are understood to be no concerns about the conduct of Mr O’Malley or his work at either college, he will still be entitled to claim any pension earnings.

The institute has agreed terms of reference with an external consultant to carry out an inquiry, which is likely to begin before Christmas but the time in which it will be completed was not known last night. The college has 700 administrative and academic staff.

The university has initiated a review of internal procedures and a spokeswoman said safeguards are to be put in place to ensure such an incident does not happen again.

“The university is extremely disappointed that such a situation arose, this was a clear breach of trust on the part of one individual. The university has long-standing procedures in place which require its academic staff to seek permission for all external consultancy and other activities and which impose strict limits on the extent of such activities,” she said.

“As it is clear that in this instance there was a breach of those procedures, steps are now being taken to guard against such non-compliance by individuals in future.”

The Higher Education Authority said it is satisfied that the colleges are dealing appropriately with what a spokesman described as an isolated incident.

“Every college has appropriate checks and balances and the most important thing is to ensure people are appropriately qualified when they are being appointed to academic jobs,” he said.