Representatives from the Higher Education Authority, the Department of Education, and Cork Institute of Technology have all rejected suggestions that an investigation into allegations contained in an anonymous protected disclosure related to CIT is not being conducted in an independent or transparent fashion.
The protected disclosure was among a number of issues raised during an examination by the Public Accounts Committee today of financial statements of the Higher Education Authority, University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology. Today's session was a follow on from a previous hearing which took place last July.
Details of the disclosure were not revealed, but management at CIT said between 15 and 20 managers were named in allegations it contained.
Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry said he did not believe it was appropriate that an CIT executive was associated with, or overseeing, an investigation of the allegations, given that some of its members were named in the disclosure. He said he believed that this represented a clear conflict of interest.
However CIT representatives told the committee that the investigation was being conducted through its independent audit committee with independent solicitors, Arthur Cox, also involved, and that auditing company KPMG was undertaking the investigation.
The head of the Higher Education Authority, Dr Graham Love, told the committee that it was important for organisations to be able to investigate such allegations themselves in the first instance. Sheena Duffy of the HEA said they were satisfied that there was an independent process in place.
Department of Education officials said the investigation was in line with legislation governing protected disclosures.
The committee also heard how the publication of a report in relation to intellectual property matters at Waterford Institute of Technology has been delayed by what the HEA described as "a number of difficulties including significant legal ones".
The report was due to be delivered to the Public Accounts Committee seven months ago. Dr Love said a draft report was currently with HEA lawyers. He said due diligence had to be carried out otherwise the HEA and the taxpayer could become financially exposed.
The WIT review was requested last year by the Public Accounts Committee after a number of concerns were raised around potential conflicts of interest concerning the development and sale of a company related to the college and its intellectual property.
