A protest by administrative staff and students at University College Cork scheduled to take place an hour before a visit by President McAleese today looked set to be abandoned last night, writes Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent.
The protest was at the decision by college president Prof Gerry Wrixon to omit Ms Mary Steele and student union president Mr Frank Milling from a college steering group.
The group has been set up to review the university's faculty and departmental structures and has its first meeting today.
According to sources who attended a meeting of the UCC Governing Body on Tuesday, Prof Wrixon failed to appoint either Ms Steele or Mr Milling to the board, despite a request from a number of UCC governors.
He also didn't increase the female representation on the new body from two out of 12.
Yesterday, SIPTU, which represents 500 administrative staff and the UCC Students' Union, posted details of a planned protest at the quad in UCC to coincide with the inaugural meeting of the steering group scheduled for between 1.15 p.m. and 1.30 p.m.
This was an hour before President McAleese is due to officially open the new 12 million Lewis Glucksman Gallery on the campus.
Last night, Mr Milling confirmed to The Irish Times that he had received a phone call from UCC vice-president of human resources, Mr Noel Keeley, shortly after 6 p.m.
Mr Keeley informed him that both he and Ms Steele were to be co-opted onto the new steering group.
"I was informed of this by Noel Keeley but I'm still awaiting written confirmation. If it doesn't arrive by midday tomorrow [ Friday], then the protest will go ahead".
Attempts to contact Prof Wrixon last night were unsuccessful.
However, a UCC spokesman denied that Mr Milling and Ms Steele were being appointed to the steering group at the direction of Prof Wrixon.
The steering group was an autonomous and independent unit and its composition was now a matter solely for its membership and chairman, Mr Joe Gantly, the UCC spokesman said.
He strongly rejected any suggestion that the decision to include Ms Steele and Mr Milling was in any way related to the planned protest today.
"Joe Gantly, having listened to the points that were made at the meeting of the Governing Body thought it would be a good idea to have representation from the student body and the administrative staff," he said.
The spokesman said it was at Mr Gantly's direction that invitations were issued to Ms Steele and Mr Milling.
"It was not done in any way at the behest or direction or is in any way connected with [ Prof] Wrixon and it has absolutely nothing to do with any protests planned by the Students' Union or SIPTU," the spokesman for UCC said.