Galway Mayo Institute of Technology is paying €180 per hour to independent investigators who are probing fresh allegations at the institute.
During a dramatic day of evidence at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing yesterday, former GMIT acting president Jim Fennell confirmed another external investigation is ongoing.
Mr Fennell was grilled at the PAC over GMIT’s “exorbitant” expenditure of €436,000 on a two-year external investigation into plagiarism at the college in 2009.
Under sustained questioning from PAC Chairperson, Fianna Fáil Deputy John McGuinness, Mr Fennell ‘came clean’ on another investigation that is ongoing and confirmed that already €31,000 plus VAT has been spent on it. He said that in total some €45,000 plus VAT has been set aside for this probe.
Mr Fennell, when asked if the new ongoing probe related to plagiarism, said it was a “dignity at work” issue. He said the college got three quotes for the work and it was agreed to pay €180 hourly rate. The ongoing probe is expected to be completed in mid-October, he said.
He told the PAC that a “key conclusion” arising from the investigation is that there was a failure on the part of a senior member of staff to provide relevant and significant information to the President and Registrar of GMIT in February 2010 and up to March 2011, regarding the involvement of a lecturer in procuring restricted material for a student.
After repeated questions, Mr Fennell confirmed disciplinary action was taken against a senior staff member – they were moved to a different department and had a lower salary, but he would not confirm if the reduction in pay was “substantial” or not.
For full coverage of the PAC hearing, see this week’s Galway City Tribune
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