UCD chiefs feared Cahill link could turn off major funders
Emails reveal fury of students and concern for college’s reputation
UCD was bombarded with complaints and correspondence from students, graduates, staff members, and other medical practitioners about the continued employment of controversial academic Dolores Cahill at the university.
The college was told it was putting its reputation at risk, that her public pronouncements on the pandemic were a ‘stain’ on the university, and that they were also at risk of losing research funding.
Emails received by the college detail how repeated calls were made for the university to act on the spread of misinformation by a member of staff.
In one email, Professor William Gallagher – the former director of UCD’s Conway Institute – wrote of his concerns about damage to the university, referring specifically to some of Ms Cahill’s activities, including the setting up of her ‘Freedom Airway’.
He wrote: ‘In addition to clear adverse impacts on public health, [these] actions are leading to significant negative effects also on UCD’s reputation both nationally and internationally. Indeed, feedback has been relayed to me from a major funder of research that inaction on behalf of UCD on this issue could lead to severe impacts on downstream funding.’
One GP – a former student of UCD – wrote about how some of his patients were repeating misinformation that had been spread by Ms Cahill and others.
They said: ‘Every week, I have a patient asking me about these rumours that they have heard about the vaccines. Some are my [redacted], others are younger.’
A lecturer at another third-level institution also wrote to say that Ms Cahill planned to organise anti-lockdown rallies around the country. He wrote: ‘There is no way [she] can do this in present circumstances without breaching the regulations that are in place. [It] is a disgrace to UCD.’
Another person wrote to ask how the university could continue to ask for ‘donations for teaching and research’ while employing a person who minimised Covid-19 and its risk.
Students from the university’s school of medicine registered their concern, including a lengthy point-by-point rebuttal of many public comments made in specific interviews by Dolores Cahill.
Another student wrote to say the college had only ever ‘deflected’ criticism on the issue.
Several emails of support were also received, several of which appeared to be a cut and paste of the same material.
They all began with the sentence: ‘I strongly object to what appears to be a witch hunt … by persons associated with UCD.’
Although Ms Cahill’s name has been redacted from the records, many of them make direct reference to her public comments.
These included a notorious incident where she was refused access to a count centre after refusing to wear a mask.
UCD did not respond to a request for comment.
‘College had only deflected criticism’