I wasn’t told of expenses concerns, says ex-WIT chair

Another ex-chairman of Waterford Institute of Technology has said he was never told of concerns about the expenses of former college president Kieran Byrne.

The statement from Noel Richards, who chaired the college board from 1998 to 2003, follows a similar declaration a week ago by his successor, Redmond O’Donoghue.

At the Dáil Public Accounts Committee almost a fortnight ago, WIT financial controller Tony McFeely said he had raised concerns about Prof Byrne’s travel expenses shortly after he became director (the title later changed to president) in 2001. Prof Byrne’s nomination to be appointed to a second 10-year term was rejected in May 2011 by the governing body after details came to light of €3.7m spent by the president’s office from 2004 to 2011.