Latest news with #ShaneKilcommins
Irish Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
UL returns €12.4m surplus a year after soured property deals drag it into the red
Accounts for the University of Limerick for the past two years, filed recently, show that an €8.3 million impairment dragged it to a loss in 2023 but that it bounced back last year with a surplus of €12.4 million. That compares with a surplus of €10.8 million in 2022 before the university found itself mired in crisis. UL has been at the centre of controversy following losses incurred by overpaying for student homes and a Dunnes Stores stores site in Limerick city centre. The subsequent fallout prompted the resignation of its president, Prof Kerstin Mey, at the end of August, having been on leave from her post for the previous five months. The university's annual report notes that Prof Mey was paid a salary of €215,663 during the 11 months of the financial year that she was in office. Prof Shane Kilcommins, who stepped in as acting president of the university in April last year was paid a salary of €110,117 over the five months from that point to the end of the financial year. READ MORE The figures are the first since the controversy first broke. The financial accounts for both September 2023 and September 2024 financial periods were signed off in March 2025, due to 'delays finalising the audit' for its 2023 accounts. Despite being appointed in November 2023, following the conclusion of the university's financial year, the Chancellor of UL, Prof Brigid Laffan, said it was 'necessary' to comment on the accounts due to the 'unprecedented requirement for the University to include two impairment charges in the Financial Statements'. 'The necessity for both impairments arose as the University acquired properties for a price now determined to be greater than the recoverable value of those properties,' she said. Prof Laffan said the impairments 'had the effect of turning a healthy surplus for the period into an overall deficit of €0.7 million'. She said that the 'overall financial sustainability' of UL will not be 'materially impacted' by incurring the impairment charges but said the policy, controls and risk management failures have to be addressed. The Comptroller & Auditor General's report, which was included in the financial statement, said the university paid 'significantly over the open market value' in the two controversial transaction. It also confirms that UL reported 'certain concerns related to the student accommodation transaction to An Garda Síochána.' Prof Shane Kilcommins said the UL community had been 'justifiably shocked' by the situation. 'There is sadness, and anger too, at the damage that the Rhebogue controversy has done to the university's reputation. UL has been in the media for the wrong reasons,' he said. The university and its subsidiaries incurred a surplus of €12.44 million after academic fee income reached a new peak last year at €133 million. The income stream has steadily increased in each of the past four years, with the primary source being undergraduate fees. Staff costs at the university last year rose to €223.2 million, up 8 per cent. The university recorded donations of €1.84 million in 2024 and €1.7 million in 2023. 'UL's success has tended to obscure shortcomings in its governance and internal workings which have become increasingly apparent and problematic in recent years,' Prof Laffan writes in the 2024 accounts.
Irish Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
University of Limerick proposes moving school of medicine to Dunnes Stores site
University of Limerick is considering moving its school of medicine to a controversial site it bought in Limerick city centre which it later admitted 'significantly overpaying' for. The university bought the former Dunnes Stores property at Honan's Quay for more than €8 million in 2019. It later wrote down the value of the site by €3 million in its financial accounts. In a message to staff on Tuesday, acting president Prof Shane Kilcommins said a 'concept proposal' for the possible redevelopment of the Honan's Quay site was discussed. It involves relocating UL's existing school of medicine to a 'fully redeveloped, high-quality facility' to the city-centre site. READ MORE He said the site had the potential to expand its school of medicine, help with the future growth of the city. The university would also explore the potential for State support. The circumstances of the purchase in 2019 sparked controversy at the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee in 2023 amid claims that college staff were unable to provide written records of a valuation for the site. It, along with another botched property deal involving student accommodation and the ensuing controversy, prompted the resignation of its then president and close scrutiny of its financial affairs by the Higher Education Authority. The university has since announced sweeping changes to the culture, corporate governance and property acquisition rules, aimed at restoring trust in the institution after a series of damaging scandals. In a message to staff on Tuesday evening, Prof Kilcommins said a 'concept proposal' for the possible redevelopment of the Honan's Quay site was discussed. It involves relocation UL's existing school of medicine to a 'fully redeveloped, high-quality facility' to the city centre site. He said that given the 'understandable and acknowledged concerns over the acquisition of this site in 2019″, the university's governing authority had been clear that it did not 'expect to see proposals for large scale investments presented for the first time when they are being asked to approve them'. Limited investment has been made in the building which has brought about 20 per cent of the building back into use. Prof Kilcommins said it was an 'inescapable fact that any progress made falls short of UL's initial ambitions for the site'. 'It must also be recognised that the significant redevelopment potential of the site both as a city campus and as a driver of socio-economic regeneration will never be realised by maintaining the status quo,' he said, in his staff message. 'Despite the financial impairment, there is no doubt that Honan's Quay is one of the most strategically located sites in the city and it is incumbent on the university to seriously consider its intentions for the site.' The university, he said, will engage with Limerick City and County Council, the Higher Education Authority and other stakeholders to 'determine the feasibility of securing funding in the context of this proposal or any alternative opportunities for the site.' The university has been tasked by Government with delivering direct entry (undergraduate) medicine, with the first cohort of these students scheduled to commence in September 2026. He added that the university has already committed to part funding the capital costs associated with the expansion of the school of medicine on campus. 'The relocation of the entire school of medicine to the city campus is a larger project however, and for it to be financially feasible a funding application, plus other borrowings, will be required,' he said. 'We are very much at the exploratory stage, and we will take the appropriate steps regarding due diligence and comprehensive stakeholder engagement.'
