Academic always top of the class for pay and conditions – Extra.ie

Before moving to the University of Limerick, Dr Des Fitzgerald was Irelands highest paid college administrator.

In 2009, at the time of the financial crash, he was earning 409,000 a year while working as vice-president for research at UCD. As the nation reeled from austerity, his salary was reduced to 263,602 in 2011, the year that many people were laid off and civil servants were forced to take hefty pay cuts. A Freedom of Information request in 2011 showed that, even at this reduced salary, Dr Fitzgerald was still Irelands highest-paid college chief. In his UCD role, he was known for his keen interest in research, which benefited both the college and pharma companies.

A Dublin southside boy, Dr Fitzgerald went to Oatlands College in Stillorgan before studying medicine at UCD. Throughout his life, he has kept a keen interest in sailing and swimming.

After college, he took residency at the Mater Hospital and moved to the US to specialise in cardiovascular medicine.

He returned to Ireland and in 1994, he was appointed the head of the department of clinical pharmacology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and helped set up bridging companies between research and pharmaceutical companies.

In all, he has held 16 directorships, including of St Vincents Healthcare Group, between April 2013 and May 2015, and a separate company that runs the multistorey car park at St Vincents Hospital, until May 2015, as well as a directorship of the Mater Hospital between March 2014 and March 2017.

In the past, he has been director of several pharmaceutical and medical research companies, including Dabl Ltd, where he was a director between June 2011 and November 2013.

He was appointed president of UL in late 2016 and took office on May 1, 2017, immediately accepting the need for an independent investigation into the colleges finances amid a series of scandals. He was initially widely praised for the swiftness of his actions, setting up an independent investigation in his first day in office.

One of the whistleblowers, Leona OCallaghan, had revealed an uncontested expenses system for some golden circle senior staff. Two other whistleblowers, known as B and C in an independent investigation, were suspended on full pay for two-and-a-half years as investigation followed investigation. All three women had worked in ULs finance department.

While his drive for transparency was welcomed by students and the media, his own tenure in UL attracted its own controversies.

UL continued to maintain a 2.2million home on campus, while the college also owned another unoccupied presidents home in Killaloe, worth nearly 1million, which has since been sold.

Figures released show that close to 100,000 was spent on costs built up at the vacant Killaloe property since January 2017.

News of the empty Killaloe home emerged at the same time that the college was finishing new accommodation for students including rooms so small that there was less than two feet of space between two tiny beds in studio-type apartments.

The college was also hit by a mounting debt problem, also made worse by the coronavirus.

A spokesman acknowledged the debt to the Irish Daily Mail and said the college would run a loss this year and next year.

UL is in a process of quantifying the financial impact of the coronavirus global pandemic. It seems likely at this stage, taking into account that additional Government funding has not yet been provided to the university, that a significant deficit will be incurred in both the current year and next year, he said.

With such financial difficulties mounting, Dr Fitzgerald announced his resignation in May, citing the difficulty the pandemic posed in fulfilling his vision for the college.

Last November, the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that UL had spent more than 7,000 for a one-night, five-star stay in London for a delegation led by former Tnaiste Mary Harney and Dr Fitzgerald.

The trip was part of a mission to see how other universities establish bases in a capital city outside of their home university, as UL wants to establish a base in Dublin, where it could possibly offer niche courses to attract more students.

The newspaper had earlier revealed that UL pulled out of buying a Georgian period property worth more than 5million in Ranelagh in south Dublin after paying a deposit which it later received back.

Sources told the MoS that Ms Harney, the chancellor of UL, had advised them against buying the commercial property due to the optics of such a spend at a time when universities are struggling financially and operating at a deficit.

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Academic always top of the class for pay and conditions - Extra.ie