Maynooth University has paid €47,000 to the Revenue Commissioners in a tax liability arising from accommodation provided to the college’s president Eeva Leinonen over a four-year period.
In the university’s 2025 annual report, the payout attracted the attention of Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy, who reported the university does not intend to recoup the €47,000 from Leinonen.
McCarthy said that from 2021 to January 2025, the university provided accommodation to the president under her employment contract terms and on which she paid tax on a benefit-in-kind (BIK) basis.
McCarthy stated that the annual report’s statement of governance discloses that following a compliance review undertaken by the Revenue Commissioners, it was determined that the university had underestimated the BIK liability over the period by €47,000.
READ MORE
The report stated the €47,000 payment was made to Revenue in February.
The annual reports showed Lenionen received a salary of €244,000 in 2025 and that the president paid BIK of €6,000 for accommodation provided by the university for four months of the college’s 2025 fiscal year.*
The university has pointed out that Leinonen paid €1,500 per month in previous years.
A native of Finland, Leinonen joined Maynooth University in 2021 after five years as vice chancellor and president at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.
On the €47,000 payment to the Revenue Commissioners, a note states that the university “is awaiting confirmation from the Revenue Commissioners that this issue is now closed”.
The university said the president paid the money back to the college, even though it was the university’s error.
“Despite no requirement to do so, the employee has taken the decision of their own volition to make a personal payment to the university equivalent to the amount that they would have borne had the benefit been assessed correctly,” the university said in a statement.
“They did this in the context that the university took full responsibility for the error and to ensure the integrity of the institution is protected. The university now considers this matter resolved and is taking steps to ensure the situation cannot occur again in the future.“
The financial statements also showed the university recorded a surplus of €11.16 million in the 12 months to September 2025 as income rose by 6 per cent to €286 million.
The university’s chief financial officer Tom Kenny said in the report that the university “continues to have strong growth in student numbers recording its highest ever intake of international students across all its faculties”.
Kenny said the university’s student fee income broke the €100 million mark, totalling €108 million, in the 2024/25 academic year.
He said: “Our income grew in line with projections and the university made savings on staff costs, due to difficulty in recruiting staff, and across a number of non-pay expenditure items against budget.”
Kenny stated staff costs were the most significant cost of the university, accounting for 57 per cent of total expenditure amounting to €135.5 million.
The number of staff earning more than €100,000 at the university last year totalled 464 compared to 423 the previous year.
* This article has been updated with further information provided by the university
