Universities overpaid staff by €8.1m since 2005, report finds

Universities have breached recession-era staff pay caps by over €8m since the end of the Celtic Tiger boom.

The major overspend has been detailed in a new Comptroller and Auditor General report alongside a series of financial transparency, pension arrangements, promotions and student “bad debt” concerns.

According to the report, between June 2005 and Feb 2011, Ireland’s third-level facilities repeatedly failed to adhere to Government-imposed staff pay caps.