GMIT president slams whistleblowers on leaks

The president of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has blasted whistleblowers at the third level college for divulging information to newspapers.

Michael Carmody has told staff how he is “disappointed” with media leaks that created “negative publicity” for GMIT.

Mr Carmody, in an email to all staff which has been seen by this newspaper, gives a ‘rap on the knuckles’ to the anonymous sources who leaked information to the Galway City Tribune.

The information came into the public domain after Mr Carmody ‘addressed the troops’ at a staff meeting on campus.

Details of the meeting and comments made by Mr Carmody at the meeting were reported in the Galway City Tribune.

It is understood Mr Carmody was going to hold a series of staff meetings, similar to the one he gave to the School of Business and College of Tourism and Arts but he hasn’t done so since the newspaper leaks.

At the May meeting Mr Carmody said the college was running a deficit of €2.5 million, and it was suggested that one fifth of this could be attributed to the ongoing cost of the unprecedented external investigation into an incident of plagiarism – and suspected cover-up – at the college.

At the same meeting Mr Carmody said he “expected movement within a month” in relation to the cheating probe carried out by two external investigators. This was widely interpreted as meaning the release of the plagiarism probe was imminent. It has yet to be published, however, and the institute says it will not comment further on it.

After his remarks were reported in the Galway City Tribune, Mr Carmody emailed all staff to condemn the leaks.

His email said: “I find it disappointing that one or more individuals has used the occasion of (me) providing information to staff as an opportunity to create further negative publicity for the institute. It is also clear, based on the query (submitted by Galway City Tribune) that the individual(s) probably recorded the questions and answers provided by the secretary/financial controller and me at the that session.

“I recognise that we are talking about a small number of individuals and this should not detract from all the positive and innovative developments the institute achieved throughout the year. I look forward to your support in further enhancing a culture of community and engagement in the coming academic year.”

The email was sent to staff in May.

Other correspondence seen by this newspaper reveals that Mr Carmody is now ‘tipping off’ staff of impending newspaper articles.

In emails to staff, Mr Carmody warns that questions from various media outlets have been received and he gives staff a ‘heads-up’ that they can expect coverage about the external investigation to appear in local and national papers.