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PAC Chairman calls on the WIT President to 'man up' and put his comments in writing.

PAC Chairman calls  on the WIT President  to 'man up' and put his comments in writing.

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has called on the President of WIT to 'man up' and put his comments in writing.

It's after Professor Willie Donnelly appeared on WLR News calling on Deputy David Cullinane to stop attacking the institute.

He hit out at what he called "constant attacks" by the Sinn Fein TD at the committee.

Fianna Fail's Sean Fleming says Professor Donnelly needs to respond to them directly.

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He said as Chairman of the PAC he would stand foursquare with any member who is being attacked by an accounting officer in public in respect of the
work of the PAC.

He said the committee needs to write to the accounting officer, Professor Donnelly, and ask him to set out the comments he made in writing to the PAC because it is
them he should be responding.

When PAC gets Professor Donnelly's letter in writing outling his criticism of the committee or individual members of the committee they will consider that, but he said
the WIT President has to man up and put it in writing what he may have said locally.

Waterford Institute of Technology was among a number of third-level colleges criticised in a report published by the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts in July 2017.

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The procedures over the handling of the sale of a spin-out company incorporated at WIT to a US multinational for 63.9 million euro is criticised, given that it yielded just over one point five million for the institute.

Last month Sinn Fein Waterford TD David Cullinane hit out at the delay in publishing a report into the sale of spin-out companies at Waterford IT's TSSG.

Michael McLoone was appointed to conduct the review in June of 2017, after concerns about potential conflicts of interests in the sale of FeedHenry were raised at the Public Accounts Committee.

The review was due to be completed in October of last year however the PAC was told that there's ongoing legal issues.

The Waterford branch of the TUI also wrote to the committee voicing their concerns about the delay.

 

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