Carlow College was heading for “bankruptcy and disorderly collapse” without State support, but its full integration into the South East Technological University (SETU) “was never a realistic possibility” and this was “known to all” involved, a senior Government source has said.
This is contrary to what staff at the college say they were led to believe, with significant disquiet now emerging over the impending closure of the Third Level institution and the redundancies of the 87 people employed there.
Carlow College was established in 1782 and largely teaches liberal arts and humanities programmes such as history, social care, teaching and psychology to almost 600 students.
In May it announced it would be closing on a phased basis over a two-year period until August 2028, allowing all current students to complete their courses.
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The announcement came as a surprise to staff and students who were of the understanding that a process to integrate it into SETU was under way.
[ Closure of Carlow College a ‘smash and grab’ operation, campaigners say ]
Senior figures in the college, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Siptu and SETU appeared before an Oireachtas Committee hearing on the issue on Wednesday.
At that hearing the timeline of the decision to close was laid out. The possible integration of Carlow College into SETU was originally communicated to staff by the college in May 2022.
One-off funding was provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education to support this goal of exploring integration with SETU and to stabilise the college financially in the interim.
In June 2024 SETU began a due diligence process looking at the viability of the integration of Carlow College. Last December Carlow College said the Minister confirmed that Cabinet approval had been secured “to provide for the potential integration of Carlow College into SETU”.
However, last February the due diligence report prepared by Mazars was presented to SETU, after which the integration of Carlow College into SETU was ruled out.
Staff and students were not informed of this decision until May. Fr Conn Ó Maoldhomhnaigh, president of Carlow College, told the committee he decided to hold off telling staff and students of this outcome in order to protect students from undue stress at exam time.
Speaking to The Irish Times, a senior Government source said college authorities were “directly asked, in writing and in meetings, to communicate and consult with staff far earlier than they did”.
“The college say now that they did not communicate as they didn’t know what to say. Frankly that’s an unacceptable and untenable position,” the source said.
On the potential for integration into SETU, the Department of Further and Higher Education told the committee that “no predetermined outcome was set out by the Department”, but “it is fair to say that financial parameters were critical”.
However, speaking after the meeting, the Government source said “while all options were being explored and the Minister was positively disposed, the best possible outcome would have been a partial integration with a limited number of staff and courses transferring to SETU”.
“A wholescale integration, with [Carlow College] continuing under a different name, was never a realistic possibility and this was known to all. Even the maximum integration scenario would have involved significant redundancies. There was no scenario under consideration which would have avoided that reality,” they said.
Siptu, the union representing most of the workforce at Carlow College, told the committee hearing that the delay in informing staff of the closure “raises fundamental questions about governance, transparency, accountability and industrial relations standards within institutions that receive public funding to deliver a public service”.
Spokeswoman for staff at the college, Regina Donlon, welcomed the support of the committee in seeking transparency in the process and said they would continue their campaign for a review of how the decision to close was reached.
