CIT president hits out at whistleblower ‘falsehoods’

The president of Cork Institute of Technology has claimed that allegations made against the college by an anonymous whistle-blower were “almost entirely malicious falsehoods” that were “intended to damage the good name of CIT, its governors, and staff”.

Brendan Murphy also defended the manner in which CIT went about commissioning portraits of both himself and a former CIT governing body chairman, after independent auditors found the procurement of the paintings in 2009 went against CIT policy.

Dr Murphy’s comments came in a series of correspondence between the college and the Higher Education Authority, which have been released to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act.

The correspondence reveal that the total cost of investigating the allegations is over €100,000, when CIT’s internal costs and the €65,000 spent on legal fees and the auditors’ report is taken into account.

Last year, the public spending watchdog received anonymous correspondence outlining some 175 claims of misspending and inappropriate practices against CIT.

The reports sent to the public accounts committee (PAC) prompted CIT to spend almost €65,000 on legal fees and on hiring auditors KPMG to investigate the claims.

KPMG found many of the allegations against CIT are repeated throughout the whistleblower’s report, and that other allegations provided “insufficient detail to allow for a robust review”.

However, the auditors did find that CIT broke procurement policies when it spent €20,000 on the two portraits. A further €2,214 was spent on framing the portraits.

Auditors also sampled 23 expense claims submitted by CIT staff and, within these, noted “several issues which are in contravention on the travel and expenses policy of CIT”.

While copies of the auditors’ report were submitted to both the Department of Education and the PAC, the committee chairman, John McGuinness, criticised the number of redactions in the report he received.

Documents released under FOI reveal Dr Murphy insisted on these redactions in a letter he wrote to the HEA last June, in which he said all individuals identified in the whistleblower’s report carried out their duties “with total integrity”.

“Accordingly, it is clear that the allegations made in the anonymous letters were almost entirely malicious falsehoods,” he wrote.

“The vast majority of the allegations were found to have no basis and the actions of CIT personnel were found to be appropriate. It is manifest that the author of the anonymous letters intended to damage the good name of CIT, its governors, and staff.”

Dr Murphy said CIT’s position that it would be “necessary and appropriate” that the report should be redacted before being handed over to the PAC.