UL elite’s €7k bill for a night in UK
Junket’s aim was to research the idea of a Dublin base, using the experience of English colleges in London
THE University of Limerick spent more than €7,000 for a one night, five-star stay in London for a delegation led by Mary Harney and its president Des Fitzgerald.
The trip this June was part of a mission to see how other universities establish bases in a capital city outside of their home university, as UL wants to establish a base in Dublin where it could possibly offer ‘niche courses’ to attract more students.
Mark Kennelly, a former chief of staff to the Taoiseach’s office during Enda Kenny’s term, was also part of this nine-person strong entourage to the British capital.
The Irish Mail on Sunday revealed this year that UL pulled out of buying a Victorian period property worth more than €5m in Ranelagh in Dublin 6, after paying a deposit which it later got back.
Sources told the MoS that Ms Harney, the Chancellor of UL, advised them against buying the commercial property due to the optics of such a spend at a time when universities are struggling financially and operating at a deficit.
Correspondence obtained by the MoS under the Freedom of Information Act shows that UL has not given up on its plans to establish a base in Dublin, where a number of its most senior management formerly lived. A Dublin Working Group was set up by UL comprising 11 members, and nine of these travelled to London this June to see how it has been done by two British universities.
After arriving at midday on Sunday, June 9, the group individually made their way to the five-star Threadneedles boutique hotel on Threadneedle Street, close to Tower Bridge and the Shard, and checked into their deluxe suites.
The documents show they enjoyed refreshments at the hotel that evening, but an exact breakdown is unavailable as it was lumped in with payments for breakfast the next morning, for a total of almost €300.
While breakfast is free for some guests staying in certain rooms, there is a ‘breakfast meal plan’ for those staying in deluxe rooms, which cost £260 (€300) per night per guest. The total room bill cost €2,577, not including extras.
The bill for refreshments on arrival for those arriving on Sunday night and breakfast the next day cost the taxpayer a combined €296.
A group of six dined in Gordon Ramsay’s award-winning restaurant Bread Street Kitchen on Bread Street, in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, where the total bill came to €616, or just over €100 per person. This included three bottles of wine at a cost of €151, or €50 a bottle.
At the restaurant, a Beef Wellington (with Truffle Mash) costs £45 per person – with a mimimum serving of two people. Or 35 day-aged sirloin of rare breed beef would set you back a more modest £25.
A bottle of French Fleurie, Didier Desvignes du Calvaire de RocheGres, Beaujolais or Austrian Gruner Veltliner, Weingut R&A Pfaffl Zeiseneck, Weinviertel both cost £43 – the approximate price point the group bought at.
A lunch the next day for eight people cost a further €151.79.
The flight times and details for UL president Dr Des Fitzgerald have not been released in the documents, apart from the cost.
The president, who is on a salary of nearly €200,000 annually, did however claim back €3.95 for breakfast in Panino Giusto, an Italian café close to the hotel on Threadneedle Street on Monday morning.
He also claimed back €29.20 for his Heathrow Express train ticket.
In addition to Ms Harney and Mr Fitzgerald, also travelling was Mark Kennelly, former chief of staff at the Department to the Taoiseach during Enda Kenny’s term.
A member of the working group, Mr Kennelly is also a director of the UL Foundation, which attracts income for the university from private donors.
Mr Kennelly claimed back an air fare of €382.98, a taxi costing €96.60, public transport costing €37.74 and food for €13.50.
A personal assistant to Dr Fitzgerald flew in on Saturday, a day in advance, while Ms Harney flew in on Sunday, arriving in London at 5.15pm, in advance of dinner at 7.30pm that Sunday night.
UL did not specify which of the six members of the working group attended the dinner on the Sunday evening, and which eight people attended lunch the next day, saying a separate request under the Freedom of Information Act would be required to answer this.
The members of the working group who travelled to London are: Dr Fitzgerald; Ms Harney; Mr Kennelly; Professor Eoin Devereux, head of the department of sociology at UL; Amanda Haynes, senior lecturer in sociology at UL; Professor Kerstin Mey, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Engagement at UL; Eddie Sullivan of the UL Foundation board; Rose Hynes, chairman of Shannon Group PLC and a director of the UL Foundation, and Aelish Nagle, PA to the UL president.
Six dined in Gordon Ramsay restaurant ‘A presence in the most populous region’
Gerry O’Brien, formerly of UCD and now deputy president at UL, did not travel to London, though he is a member of the working group.
The members visited two universities which have satellite bases offering a range of courses to students in London – Coventry University London and Loughborough University London.
Both of these off-shoots in London are located between two to three hours away from their main campuses.
The documents show that UL was in talks with Lisney property agents since November 2018 with a view to buying 6 Northbrook Road. It was viewed by Mr Fitzgerald and Mr O’Brien, both of whom formerly worked for UCD before joining UL.
A memo was then presented to Governing Authority (GA) in December 2018 about buying the property.
The memo stated a bid to acquire the property was submitted on December 12 and that this bid was subject to approval at Governing Authority.
Discussions were ongoing up to February 2019 regarding an extension to sign the contract.
But the correspondence shows that the booking deposit was due to be refunded in February. The memo presented to GA read: ‘The future development of the University will be significantly enhanced by the development of a presence in Dublin for the University. There are a variety of positive initiatives that can be progressed and enhanced by a Dublin presence.’
These ‘positive initiatives’ have all been redacted – or blacked out – in the documents.
A UL spokesman previously told the MoS: ‘The purpose of the presence in Dublin would be to strengthen the university by having a presence in the most populous region for marketing and other reasons, including offering
‘You would hope lessons have been learned’
niche courses in Dublin. This strategy has been used successfully by other universities, particularly in the UK.’
Fianna Fáil deputy Willie O’Dea told the MoS: ‘Any spending of that sort would require a very detailed explanation and justification. On the surface, it seems to me to be a needless extravagance and unnecessarily wasteful, particularly when they’re operating at a deficit. I couldn’t see any justification whatsoever for that. This is the taxpayer that is picking up all this tab.’
The Limerick TD said: ‘I am glad if the Chancellor stepped in and stopped this because she has a duty to protect taxpayer’s money. If UL does go ahead and buys a property, and I don’t care if it’s in Dublin, London or Tokyo, it will be scrutinised at the Committee of Public Accounts. After all the reports which have been done on UL, which included questionable spending, and all the turmoil that went on there, you would hope that lessons have been learned.’