Governing body back in business

USI and Letterkenny RTC students' union have welcomed the Minister for

Education's decision to restore the governing body and management of the college. Both were suspended and replaced by a Department of Education appointed Commission following an investigation in 1994.

"We welcome the fact that the Minister is going to bring back the governing body in a normal situation," says Niall Keogh, president of Letterkenny RTC students' union.

"It will also lead to a better situation at academic council instead of having the Commission there. It'll get us back to normal this year.

USI's education officer, Malcolm Byrne, congratulated the Commission on its work and said he hoped that the concerns of students over the previous running of the college had been put to rest.

"I think it will ensure that, in future, the governing bodies of RTCs will be more accountable and that the legitimate concerns of students will be taken on board" he said.

The new governing body will come into effect on or before December 4th. The County Manager of Donegal County Council, Michael McLoone, will be its chairman and the current Commission, Micheal O Neill, will be acting director of the college until a permanent appointment is made.

The governing body and management of the college were suspended for a two year period in 1994, after a series of reports in E&L and The Irish Times led to an investigation into its running.

The report on that investigation, by Dr Miriam Hederman O'Brien, found inadequate staff selection systems; flawed financial management; unauthorised borrowing and a haphazard approach to course accreditation.

The report also found that the chairman of the governing body, Bernard McGlinchey, had been involved in a conflict of interest when he questioned the union's accounts after it ceased its involvement with a local bar, the Golden Grill.

The Grill was run by McGlinchey's son Paul and his father was a director. An investigation was also carried out by the Data Protection Commissioner into how Paul McGlinchey came into the possession of a full list of their names and addresses of second and third year pupils.

Bernard McGlinchey resigned on the day the report's findings were made public in October 1994.

In a Dail committee debate later that year, the then Democratic Left spokesman on education, Eamon Gilmore, accused him of running the college as a "personal fiefdom".