NUIG top brass in €22k expenses spending spree

Vice-President’s spending on international travel, transport and restaurant dining amounts to almost €14,000 since 2018.

By Valerie McHugh & Paddy Henry

Spending between the President of NUI Galway Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh and Vice-President and Registrar Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh has amounted to €22,173.10 over the last three years, according to documents released to SIN under the Freedom of Information Act.

Professor Ó hÓgartaigh receives an annual salary of €201,155 per annum, while Vice-President Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh takes home a yearly rate of €165,406.

Professor Ó Dochartaigh, who has been in the role since 2014, during the Presidential tenures of both Professor Ó hOgartaigh and Dr Jim Browne, claimed €13,979.10 over the three year period.

Foreign travel took up a substantial proportion of Ó Dochartaigh’s expenditure with claims from trips to Ljubljana, Potsdam, London and Canada included on the Vice-Presidential tab.

The Languages Professor’s Canadian exploits saw him run up a bill of €1,525.28 on a trip to the Jewish Public Library in Montreal.

Also included in the Vice-President’s spending since 2018 was mileage costs, public and private transport and restaurant dining.

A spokesperson for NUI Galway said that Mr Ó Dochartaigh’s expenses were consistent with the fulfilment of his role and that with his research into the representation of Jewish people in Irish literature;

“The Deputy President and Registrar incurred expenses in the normal course of carrying out his role, largely for transport and mileage in order to attend conferences and meetings and for official engagement with colleagues across the further and higher education sector regionally, nationally and overseas.

“While working as Deputy President and Registrar, Professor Ó Dochartaigh continues to pursue important research on representations of Jews in Irish literature. On the back of that he was invited to give a lecture at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal to mark Bloomsday 2019 as part of an ongoing engagement with the Irish Studies team in Concordia University, which includes the hosting of an international conference planned for next year at NUI Galway.” they said.

Professor Ciaran Ó hÓgartaigh, who assumed the role of President in 2018, spent €4,158.08 in his first year in office including over €1,300 on public and private transport over his first 12 months in office alone.

One such example of transport spending saw €200 accrued on two taxi fares on the same day during a trip to the British Irish Chamber of Commerce in May.

Travel expenses claimed by the President increased in 2019 to a sum of €2101.41 and included claims from trips to China.

Additionally over €2,000 was spent on Irish public and private mileage costs in 2019.University mileage expenses are calculated using the Irish Car Mileage Rate per Mile algorithm, which sees those on University business entitled to claim 37.95 cent per kilometre on trips equal to 5,500 kilometres or less than 5,500 kilometres and 21.36 cents on journeys longer than that.

In 2019, the University was engulfed in a Presidential expenses scandal which revealed that Ó hÓgartaigh’s predecessor Dr Jim Browne spent over €100,000 on business-class international travel, cross-country taxi trips and luxury hotel accommodation through expenses claimed through the University’s official fundraising charity, the Galway University Foundation.

“While working as Deputy President and Registrar, Professor Ó Dochartaigh continues to pursue important research on representations of Jews in Irish literature. On the back of that he was invited to give a lecture at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal to mark Bloomsday 2019 as part of an ongoing engagement with the Irish Studies team in Concordia University, which includes the hosting of an international conference planned for next year at NUI Galway.”

The exorbitant spending was deemed as being “inconsistent” by the charity’s regulator at the time. The former President’s spending included thousands of euros incurred in the name of Dr Browne’s wife, including over €7,965 on flights.

Students’ Union President Pádraic Toomey emphasised the importance that expenditure from people in public office is monitored, telling SIN;

“It’s really important that we keep an eye on the expenditure of people who are on the public purse. It’s very important that we make sure that they’re not overspending.”

What €22,173.10 could get you at NUI Galway

A single bedroom in Corrib Village for four years, with a handsome €2,073 left over

The payment of the new student levy of €140 for 158 students, with a leftover €53.10

The payment of the €295 repeat exam fee for 75 students, and a remaining sum €48.10

The cost incurred by the University to hold in-person repeat exams for 2,019 students, with a remainder of €4.48

A one-year student membership for the Kingfisher Gym for 88 students with additional €173.10 left in your pocket

Controversial Levy referendum passes

Paddy Henry

A reduction to the cost of the student levy paid by every student in NUI Galway is on the way, after a referendum on its reduction was passed late last month.

Students were asked whether or not they approved of the cancellation of the current Student Levy of €224 and further approved its replacement with a new Student Levy of €140.

The referendum passed by the slightest of margins with 51.52% of respondents voting in favour of reform,

The referendum was held in conjunction with the elections for the three full-time Students’ Union officer roles, and brought high turnouts, with 3, 682 voting on the levy question, a record high turnout for an Stufents’ Union referendum in NUI Galway,

Polling by SIN in the week leading up to the decision had the election as something of a foregone conclusion, with over 80% of respondents on campus stating that they would vote yes to the question posed to them at the ballot box.

However, as members of societies became aware that a yes vote on April 22nd meant a cut of €14.23 to the Aras na Mac Leinn fund, which finances the running of the building a campaign led by the University Societies Coordination Group (USGC) ro “Save Áras Na Mac Léinn was launched.

The campaign argued that the fund, which was used to fund the renovation of facilities in the building such as the Hub and the development of acoustic rooms would be “gutted” by a yes vote.

USCG members also criticised the lack of consultation form the Students’ Union claiming that they were caught “unawares” by the referendum announcement and that they were “never contacted” about the proposals.

SIN reported in November last year that a referendum on the student levy was set to take place in April.

Following the referendum’s passing and two well-contested campaigns that was at times fractious, outgoing Students’ Union President Pádraic Toomey, who supported the levy reform spoke of the importance on maintaining a” good relationship “with everybody involved telling SIN ;

“The important thing now is that we make sure that this is a levy for everyone. This levy was an important part of the work that the Students’ Union have done this year and I think that it’s important now that we work with the University that this is the baseline for the levy and we work towards a good relationship with everyone.”

The outgoing President also spoke of the need to recognise the importance of the services made available to students and expressed the necessity of maintaining and adding on to these services;

“I think it’s important that all services are taken care of and that we have all the services that we have as students. It’s important to recognise that we do pay enough but every service that we have is needed, and needs to be maintained and need to ensure that services are constantly added to make life for students better.

Asked if he felt that there may have been an error in communication within the yes campaign Toomey highlighted the complicated nature of the levy, but acknowledged that the yes side may have misjudged where the key talking points were going to be during the referendum.

“The levy is a very complicated thing because of all the different parts of it, it was always going to be difficult to get every part of it. I’d say what we thought was going to be the main focal point of it (the campaign) wasn’t always the main talking point which was the main thing that drove the levy, but it’s important that we recognise that each part is important and that’s why students pay that money.”

The new student levy comes into effect ahead of the 2021/22 academic year.

Students say yes to referenda on sustainability and Independent Council Chair and Part-Time positions filled as NUIG goes to the polls for the second time in a week

Ellen O’Donoghue

A referendum on the appointing of an Environmental and Sustainability part-time officer has been passed with an overwhelming majority of 898 votes for, and 87 votes against.

Another referendum, this time on the appointing of an Independent SU Council Chair, instead of a student being voted into the position, was passed with 427 voting in favour and 246 voting against.

All but five part-time officer candidates ran uncontested this year, with their only competitor being the infamous Re-Open Nominations (RON).

Second-Year Computer Science student, Kirsty Moran has been re-elected Clubs’ Captain after a lacklustre year for Clubs owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She received a total of 15 votes, with RON receiving none.

Final year Gaeilge student, Eimear Nic Oireachtaigh has been elected Oifigeach na Gaeilge for the 2021/22 academic year as she goes into a Masters’ degree in Digital Marketing.

She won with an overwhelming majority of 927 votes, more than double the quota of 427.

Niamh McGrath has been elected Disability Rights Officer, having won with 923 votes, leaving RON with 54.

Anne Marie Ward has been elected Ethnic Minorities Officer, beating RON with 868 votes against 58, to become the first traveller woman appointed to the Students’ Union executive team.

Orlaith McCabe has been elected Gender and LGBT+ Rights Officer. McCabe received 806 votes, with RON receiving 106.

The position of International Students Officer has gone to Matthew Connolly.

He received 595 votes against his competitors Abhiraj Sharma and RON, who received 210 and 27 votes respectively.

Michelle Mitchell failed to be re-elected as Mature Students Officer, losing out marginally to Anita O’Halloran, who received 334 votes, whereas Mitchell received 328.

Faye McDonnell was elected Convener of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, receiving the vast majority of votes.

She received 268 votes, beating Fionn Sexton and Nicole Browne, who received 65 and 35 votes respectively.

Krystian Bachan has been elected Convener of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law, following in the footsteps of Vice-President Education Officer-Elect, Clodagh McGivern, who held the position for two years.

Convener of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences went too Jack Collins, who won against Orlagh Cleary.

They received 174 and 73 votes, respectively.

Sai Gujalla was elected Convener of the College of Science and Engineering, beating Laura Ilupeju with 247 votes against 212 votes.

Ethan Wilkinson has been elected Societies chairperson, winning with a majority of 21.

Shane O’Connell won the race for Postgraduate Research Officer with 92 votes after running uncontested with RON receiving 5 votes, whereas Martin Smyth has been appointed Postgraduate Taught Officer with 62 votes against 11 for RON.