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UCD

UCD to begin talks on giving back ‘illegal pay’

€1.6 million in unauthorised allowances paid to staff over a ten-year period to be repaid to HEA.

UCD AND THE Higher Education Authority (HEA) are in negotiations over the repayment of €1.6 million in unauthorised allowances which were paid to staff.

UCD accepted last week that the repayments must be made, but wants to spread out the repayments over a longer period. The college’s president Dr Hugh Brady admitted recently that the meeting of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee where he was questioned about accounts was  not his most “comfortable afternoon”.

The Department of Education has insisted that UCD make the repayments in full,  while the HEA may deduct the €1.6m in full from UCD’s funding, reports The Irish Times. UCD currently has debts of €11 million.

The €1.6 million was paid to staff over a ten-year period , while a further €266,000 was paid to 12 staff members in performance bonuses between 2005 and 2008.