College asks its ex-president to repay expenses

Waterford Institute of Technology has asked its former president Kieran Byrne to repay some expenses incurred during his time in office that it claims were of personal benefit to him.

He was not reappointed to a second term in 2011 after details emerged of spending by his office that peaked at €630,000 in 2008 and included serious breaches of spending controls in areas such as hospitality and taxis. In total, €3.7m was spent by the college’s office of president from 2004-11.

The WIT governing body’s decision not to reappoint him is understood to be the subject of a legal challenge by Mr Byrne against the college, where he was director and later president since 2001.

WIT has now reviewed spending by his office from 2007-11 to identify any spending that could be deemed of personal benefit to him.

In a letter to the Higher Education Authority (HEA), his successor as president, Ruaidhrí Neavyn, and WIT governing body chairman Donal Ormonde, say the college has sent Mr Byrne a claim for reimbursement.

The Irish Examiner sent WIT a number of questions on the nature and scale of the expenses it claims were of personal benefit to Mr Byrne. A spokesperson said the college could not comment for legal reasons.

The WIT letter of Jun 27 to the HEA was forwarded by the Department of Education to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which has published it on the Oireachtas website.

via College asks its ex-president to repay expenses | Irish Examiner.