UL head says criticism of PAC appearance is 'completely fair' 

Prof Kerstin Mey: 'I acknowledge that criticism in this regard is completely fair.'

The head of the University of Limerick (UL) has said that some of the criticism levelled at the institution following an appearance at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week is “completely fair”.

In a message to all staff, president of the university Kerstin Mey said that she was “keenly aware” of concerns expressed about the institution’s appearance, in particular the standard of answers given under questioning.

The session dealt predominantly with the purchase by UL of a Limerick city centre campus in 2019 for €8.3m without a formal valuation having been completed. Prof Mey was criticised in the aftermath for providing evasive answers or for citing legal constraints as to why she couldn’t answer more directly.

On one occasion, she was asked a question 23 times as to the media training she had received before finally providing an answer.

In her message, Prof Mey said that “although there were questions here that I genuinely was precluded from answering, media training was not one of them”.

“I acknowledge that criticism in this regard is completely fair,” she said.

She said she had given “much thought” as to how the “difficult and challenging session” had unfolded.

“Despite how it might have appeared, I want to assure all of you that I am determined to continue to ensure transparency in all our dealings,” Prof Mey said.

'Unambiguous”

She said that notwithstanding the legal constraints she had cited, she wishes to be “clear and unambiguous” in relation to the purchase of the Dunnes Stores site in May 2019.

She added however that “it is also a fact that legal advice constrains us from discussing many of the shortcomings” in the acquisition.

“The constraints continue to cause understandable frustration to the governing authority, to the campus community and to the PAC,” she said.

“That was very evident on the day.” 

It emerged last week that a report commissioned from consultants KPMG into the Dunnes Stores purchase has only been seen by six people, one of whom is dead, and by none of the serving members of the governing authority, creating a situation where they could have been sanctioned by the report without their knowledge.

Prof Mey had told the PAC that the report cannot currently be shared as its contents are being challenged in the courts, in a case taken by former chief operating officer Gerry O’Brien, and that the “very robust” legal advice she has on the matter is that the report’s distribution must be “absolutely limited”.

She admitted in her message to staff that she stood accused of replying “too defensively” to questions regarding the Dunnes purchase on the day.

She said she has the “utmost respect” for the work of the PAC, and would continue “to focus on the issues that need to be resolved as quickly as possible”.