The country's largest university continued to make unauthorised payments to key staff despite repeated warnings that its actions were unlawful, the Dáil's Public Account's Committee heard today.
The Higher Education Authority says as early as 2001 it had indicated to University College Dublin that such payments were not legal. However UCD disputes this.
The Committee heard that in 2004, the year that Dr Hugh Brady was appointed president of the university, the level of unauthorised allowances paid to staff increased almost sixfold.
The heads of the universities, as well as representatives from the Higher Education Authority and the departments of education and finance, attended the Public Accounts Committee today to respond to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General which found unsanctioned payments across the university system over the past decade.
The Higher Education Authority told the Committee that in 2001 it reminded all the universities that 1997 legislation outlawed the practice of paying additional allowances without specific authorisation from the Minister for Education.
However, the committee heard that at UCD the practice not only continued but increased.
In 2003 the college was paying less than €70,000 in such payments to staff.
But in 2004 those allowances jumped to €400,000.
That figure does not include unauthorised bonuses amounting to €266,000 that were paid to 12 key staff over the period.
Both the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Education said they had warned UCD to stop such practices and by 2006 those warnings had become persistent and robust.
But the practice continued, right up until 2009 in some cases.
However, Dr Brady told the committee that until 2007 there had been no indication that this was a significant issue.
He said the university had until then believed that approval for such payments was a mere formality.
