CITY TRIBUNE

GMIT expects to break even following staff cuts

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Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) will return to surplus in the next academic year, its current President has predicted.

Dr Fergal Barry said the college’s deficit will be less than €1 million in the current academic year, and further job cuts will bring the institute back into the black.

Dr Barry’s statement comes after a shock report predicted the demise of GMIT unless deep cuts – including up to 50 job losses – were implemented.

And despite his reassurances, staff at the college fear a “surplus to requirements” list is being drawn up as the college looks to cut its pay bill through redundancies if necessary.

As revealed in the Galway City Tribune last week, Michael O’Connell – a former financial controller at Limerick IT, when he was a colleague of Dr Barry – compiled a report that recommends cost reductions and income generation totalling €5 million for 2015-2020.

The report called into question the future sustainability of the institute, and warned that drastic cutbacks are necessary to arrest the perilous financial decline faced by GMIT.

It predicted the third level college’s cash reserves will dry-up completely in three years, and it “will become technically insolvent”, if corrective action is not taken.

GMIT, according to the report, made an operating loss for the past four years, and has accumulated operating deficits of €6.7 million during that time. Its reserves now stand at less than €8 million.

On current trends, “the viability and sustainability of its core operations in the longer term will be threatened”, according to the report’s author, Michael O’Connell.

He recommended a suite of measures to reduce the €40 million-plus annual payroll costs, including 50 job cuts through non-replacement of staff who retire, non-renewal of temporary contracts, and redundancies.

The remaining staff should undergo “retraining, reassignment and redeployment” to “create efficiencies” and to “absorb this reduction in capacity”.

The O’Connell report has not been ratified by GMIT’s Governing Body, but it is understood Education Minister Richard Bruton, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and officials in the Higher Education Authority believe its recommendations are necessary to save GMIT.

One Governing Body member, who did not wish to be named, said the thrust of the O’Connell report is supported.

“We cannot continue to operate by incurring losses of this size every year. If there are courses where there are only five students on them, well then that’s not sustainable. We also have a situation where there is a shortage of nurses but there is a cap on the number of students who can enrol in the nursing course at Castlebar, which is impacting on that the ability of that campus to break even,” the member said.

However, another member said there is a divergence of opinion at Governing Body level.

“The O’Connell report was not formally ratified,” the source said. “It was discussed at Governing Body level but it was not voted on and was not ratified.”

The source confirmed that a nine-point plan, drawn-up by Jim Fennel, GMIT’s financial controller, was “discussed and ratified” by the Governing Body. It is understood there is some overlap in both documents.

Another Governing Body member told the Galway City Tribune that there was a certain amount of “gamesmanship” going on, as well as politicking, between the Galway campuses and the Castlebar campus, which is under threat.

In a statement issued last Friday, Dr Barry said: “GMIT’s executive and finance function has been actively implementing many of the recommendations of an independent external report (O’Connell Report 2015) and an Action Plan approved by the Institute’s Governing Body.

“As a result, GMIT’s deficit will be less than €1m at the end of this academic year (2016/2017) and the Institute will be returning to surplus on the September 1, 2017 for the Academic Year 2017/2018.

“GMIT will be using its considerable reserves to support the implementation of its academic plan. To date planned staffing level reductions have been and continue to be achieved through non-replacement of retirements and the reassignment of staff to areas of growth,” he said.

Dr Barry pointed out that there has been an increase in demand for some course at GMIT following the CAO ‘change of mind’ deadline; and it has also introduced new courses.

Meanwhile, TUI Deputy General Secretary Dr Aidan Kenny, who has overall responsibility for third level in the trade union, visited the Galway campus and outlined to members the existence of the O’Connell report and the threat it posed to their employment terms and conditions.

The meeting heard claims that the Government and HEA have “bypassed” the Governing Body and instructed the college to implement the cuts. The meeting heard how a “surplus to requirement” list is being prepared.

TUI, as well as members in the two other staff unions, SIPTU and IMPACT, are concerned at the lack of implementation.

Last week, a motion of no confidence in the Board of GMIT was disused at Castlebar Municipal District.

There is anger in Mayo at a supposed ‘ultimatum’ to staff to transfer to Galway; there is also a sense in Mayo that Castlebar is being ‘run down’ at the expense of investment in Galway.

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