WIT seeks repayment of former president’s expenses

Waterford Institute of Technology has taken a High Court action against its former president Prof Kieran Byrne to recover more than €110,000 in expenses.

Costs incurred by the office of the former president included chartering private aircraft between Bristol and Dublin and Dublin and Waterford, taxis between the institute and the capital, spending on fine art, gifts, hospitality and foreign travel.

The current president of Waterford Institute of Technology Dr Ruaidhrí Neavyn yesterday told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee of a series of audits, which followed a request for details of the expenses connected to the president’s office.

The request had been made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Dr Neavyn said an in-depth report into a 2½-year period from 2009 prompted the college to consider a longer period from 2006 to 2011, when the president failed to get reappointed.

Insufficiently documented
He said the review had identified non-pay spending of almost €1 million and of this, €368,000 was insufficiently documented.

Of the €368,000, he said the institute had identified between €110,000 and €120,000 which had a “personal benefit” to Prof Byrne.

As Waterford Institute of Technology had recently instituted a High Court action, he said he did not want to say too much about the case.