A UCD proposal for a prestigious new centre honouring former US president Mr Bill Clinton has run into serious objections from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), which wanted all universities to have a chance to bid for the centre.
In a confidential letter to the Taoiseach's Department in May, the HEA expressed its "deepest misgivings" about making a commitment to the UCD proposal.
UCD made representations to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and his officials between last November and May. But the HEA objected to UCD getting a clear run on the project.
The Taoiseach later announced that a panel of former US education secretary Mr Richard Riley and two others would decide which university would host the £2.5 million William Jefferson Clinton Centre for American Studies. The decision is expected soon.
While the funding is comparatively small in relation to other third-level projects, hosting the centre would be a major prize for any university.
The centre will involve the study of American life, literature, history and culture and Mr Ahern said it would "further strengthen the bonds between Ireland and the United States".
UCD set up its own Centre for American Studies last year and hoped to house it in a building called the Clinton Centre. In a letter to the Taoiseach last November 28th, UCD president Dr Art Cosgrove said he hoped the Government would support the project and give it more than £2 million in funding.
However, in May, when the HEA heard about the proposal and UCD's contact with Mr Ahern and his officials, the HEA chief executive, Mr John Hayden, wrote to the Department of the Taoiseach saying that if Mr Ahern accepted UCD's proposal, it "could end in tears as other unforeseen costs emerge, particularly when the centre becomes operational".
He said the HEA had the "deepest misgivings" about the UCD proposal being accepted, "notwithstanding its possible excellence".
He pointed out that universities requiring State funds had to go through the HEA and making a hasty decision about the project by accepting UCD's suggestion made the HEA "uneasy". He said other colleges would like to tender for it.
"UCD have made no approach, formal or informal, to us. We have therefore no costings on which to evaluate the proposal nor a basis for analysing it".
These views were endorsed by the HEA chairman, Dr Don Thorn hill, in a phone call to the Department's assistant secretary, Mr Wally Kirwan, on the same date.
He emphasised the importance of other universities getting the chance to tender for the centre.
The next day one of Mr Ahern's leading advisers, Mr Peter McDonagh, in an e-mail to Mr Kirwan, called into question the HEA's assertions.
He said "the HEA seem to forget" that it was Government policy which led to competitive processes in the university sector, not HEA policy.