The two houses that UL built for its president
IT’S a tale of two houses – and the University of Limerick.
Now a local TD is urging UL to either sell or rent out the original president’s residence, set on two acres in Killaloe, Co. Clare, to offset debts.
Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins described it as ‘incredible’ and ‘staggering’ that the second property has been lying vacant for more than eight years.
‘Given the crisis in funding in third-level education, it’s inconceivable that they would hold on to it for any longer. It makes no sense,’ Mr Collins said.
UL is the only university in the country that has two presidential residences in its possession, and the maintenance and renovation of both properties has cost €109,654 within the past decade. A further €21,520 has been spent on the renovation costs of the Clare house, which is believed to be worth in excess of €1m. The other property, on the north side of the university’s campus – which cost €2.2m and was funded by philanthropist Chuck Feeney of Atlantic Philanthropies – sparked outrage when it was built in 2010, a time when UL was €3m in debt. Mr Collins said: ‘As a publicly funded organisation, it’s supposed to strive for value for money. When you have students who are struggling to pay fees, it’s hard to reconcile that with holding two presidential houses.’
A spokesman for UL told the Irish Mail on Sunday that the future of the Clare property was being considered as part of the new campus master plan, which will be revealed in full next year.
‘It will either be sold or repurposed as part of that plan,’ they said. The new UL president, Dr Des Fitzgerald, said he was not keen on living in the second purpose-built residence, which is on the campus.
‘How do I put it? It has great architecture,’ Mr Fitzgerald said of the property. ‘It’s a requirement you live there. It’s a very public house, for events, meeting donors or visiting academics. It’s not exactly a private home – it’s more like living in a fish bowl and kind of exposed.’
The secluded four-storey house on a hilltop in Killaloe was vacated by UL’s second president, Dr Roger Downer and his wife, when he stepped down early for health reasons in August 2008.
Since then, it has been leased on only one occasion, in May 2009, for 18 months at a cost of €1,500 per month, accruing €27,000 in rent, but it has remained unoccupied since.