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The botched pupil housing scheme on the centre of turmoil in College of Limerick is “unauthorised” for such lodging, metropolis planners stated this week as UL admitted overpaying €5.2 million for 20 houses.
College president Prof Kerstin Mey took sick depart in current days as a sharply crucial report on the €11 million buy prompted the Increased Training Authority (HEA), UL’s regulator, to provoke a brand new investigation into the deal and assessment the establishment’s “common tradition and governance”.
The report for UL’s governing authority by former civil servant Niamh O’Donoghue is claimed to have made damning conclusions concerning the phrases on which the college settled the transaction with Silvergrove Developments, whose sole director is Limerick accountant Sean Sheahan.
The O’Donoghue report can be stated to have criticised issues with the planning standing of houses at Rhebogue, about 3km from the UL campus, which the college acquired for pupil housing in 2022.
[ UL president takes sick leave as governing authority met to discuss report on €5.2m housing overpayment ]
[ University of Limerick overpaid €5.2m on student housing project, says president ]
Though 80 college students have been residing at Rhebogue since October, Limerick Metropolis and County Council issued a warning letter final yr to UL difficult the usage of the homes for pupil residences. The college disputed such claims in a proper reply to the native authority however it has but handy down a willpower.
On the top of the controversy in current days, nevertheless, the council issued an adversarial ruling to Silvergrove on its October software for retention permission in relation to boundary and landscaping points at Rhebogue.
Limerick Metropolis and County Council stated: “It seems to the planning authority that the proposed growth pertains to a web site, the usage of which is taken into account unauthorised to be used as pupil lodging. The retention of works related would facilitate this unauthorised use and subsequently the planning authority will not be disposed to granting permission.”
UL had no touch upon the council’s ruling or planning points, saying the Rhebogue deal stays underneath assessment.
The Irish Instances was unable to succeed in Mr Sheahan, who didn’t reply to questions despatched to his work e mail on Friday night. Mr Sheahan, who owns Silvergrove’s father or mother firm, Zalbury, grew to become Silvergrove’s sole director in December 2022 in succession to former administrators Virginia Keogh and Aidan O’Brien.
[ Why University of Limerick could face intervention by education authority ]
[ University of Limerick faces threat to funding after botched housing project ]
The planning points elevate additional questions for UL, which is going through intensive HEA scrutiny because it pushes to settle phrases of reference for the brand new investigation. HEA chiefs have scheduled a three-day go to to UL on April twenty third to twenty fifth for talks with senior college managers.
The explanations for the overpayment stay unclear however UL’s governing authority has stated the ensuing impairment has “implications in relation to governance, monetary administration and potential future funding”.
Though UL faces the prospect of a grilling at an April eleventh assembly of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, Prof Mey has signalled she gained’t attend as a result of she is incapacitated.
The Rhebogue deal and a €3 million writedown on the worth of a former Dunnes Shops web site that UL acquired in 2019 are additionally underneath examination by the Comptroller and Auditor Normal.
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