Professor Brigid Laffan:

I became chancellor of the University of Limerick on 2 November 2023, just before Christmas, following a unanimous decision of the governing authority. I was one of the founding members of the institution. I began my studies in Limerick in 1972 and I held my first academic post there. The University of Limerick matters a great deal to me. It was transformative of my life. When I became chancellor, I was looking forward to giving back to the institution and bringing to bear my 46 years of experience in higher education nationally and internationally. However, the chancellorship has been very different from what I anticipated. It has been dominated by capital acquisition matters, namely, the legacy issues of the Dunnes Stores purchase and the Rhebogue acquisition.

At my second meeting of the governing authority, a memorandum came to us highlighting a potential stamp duty liability on a capital acquisition of houses in Rhebogue, which was a place of which I had never heard. There was also a difference between what the governing authority understood was paid for that acquisition, which was €10.9 million, and the actual contract price of €11.4 million. In addition, a subsidiary of the university, PCC, which handled student accommodation, had received a warning letter regarding planning on 13 December. The governing authority was not informed of this. In my view, that was a serious omission.

As outlined in my written submission, deep concern was recorded in the minutes of that meeting about due diligence and whether the policy for the acquisition of new property, buildings, land and infrastructure was passed. There was concern about the apparent high price of the buildings acquired. We understood immediately, given the sensitivity of the Dunnes Stores purchase, that we had to act. We asked the audit and risk committee of the governing authority to look at the acquisition immediately. We did not even wait half an hour. We did it immediately. It became very clear to the ARC that it needed to do an end-to-end review of the Rhebogue acquisition, including the decision gates, what happened and how it happened. We were updated at every meeting. There was no delay in terms of how the governing authority handled the response to the acquisition.

Parallel to that, there was also an impairment review, which was necessitated by the requirement to look at the carrying value of the Rhebogue acquisition. The impairment review came out with a draft impairment figure of €5.2 million, which is a very large quantum. As a university professor, I know what €5 million can do in a higher education institution. Both the impairment review and the fact-finding review undertaken by Niamh O’Donoghue came to the governing authority on 28 March. Two days before that meeting, I received from the HEA a letter that no chancellor of an Irish university wants to receive. In the letter, the CEO of the HEA said, "I am writing to communicate to you my deepest concerns in relation to the governance and culture of the institution and the potential impact on the reputation and financial stability of the University." As I said, this is not a letter any chancellor of an Irish university ever wants to receive. We are working with the HEA. Under its terms of reference, we will undertake a section 64 inquiry, on which work has already commenced.

The events of the past two months have generated deep concern and anger among the campus community. I met with 750 members in person and another 500 online on Easter Thursday. That engagement was a symptom of just how important this issue is within the university. UL finds itself once again in the glare of adverse publicity. There are major trust issues within the institution, with our stakeholders and, of course, for this committee.

I emphasise that the problems in UL do not arise from its core academic mission or the academic programmes of the institution, and I say that as a seasoned academic. Between the time the university bought Dunnes Stores and the Rhebogue acquisition, 19,000 students graduated from the university with fine degrees and fine academic credentials. Those students are now working in the region, in Ireland and abroad. They are paying taxes and contributing to society. We have to remember that those students matter and make sure their credentials are upheld.

I will not ask the committee to trust us or tell it that there is no need for deep change within UL. Today, I want to convey my determination and the determination of the governing authority to ensure that UL emerges from this as a stronger, better governed institution. I want the committee to judge us by our actions and results. I will not ask it to trust us. It should monitor and verify what we do. Only by doing and changing can we regain the reputation necessary for UL and the trust of the university community, its students and stakeholders and all the members of the committee. We are happy to answer questions. We need to bring the university to a safe harbour because it has been a difficult time for the 20,000 people on that campus, comprising 2,000 staff and 18,000 students. We need to be cognisant of them.