Mon. Feb 17th, 2025

Kerstin Mey paid €175k a year with no course to teach

ByAnna Powell

Friday, 4 October 2024, 18:34 , , , ,
Glucksman Library of the University of Limerick
The Former UL President has been appointed Professor of Visual Culture – a course that doesn’t exist

Former President of UL, Kerstin Mey is currently being paid €175,000 per year while on sabbatical leave before assuming the role of Professor of Visual Culture at UL.
At present, there is no visual culture course in place at the University of Limerick. 

Professor Kerstin Mey resigned from her role as President of UL earlier this year after an extended sick leave last June. At this time members of staff and students in UL strongly expressed no confidence in her after the university made a controversial housing deal.
Upon return from her twelve-month paid sabbatical, Professor Kerstin Mey will start her position as Professor of Visual Culture at UL.  

University scrutinised for overspending on property deals

On Thursday morning, representatives of the University of Limerick appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for the second time in five months to answer questions regarding incidents of significant overspending of €8m on two property deals.

The University of Limerick has been publicly scrutinised for its overspending on a former Dunnes Stores site in Limerick city centre, and the €12.58m purchase of 20 houses at Rhebogue. The purchase of the houses in Rhebogue has been referred to An Garda Síochána for investigation

At this second meeting, members of the PAC committee were told that former UL president Kerstin Mey was preparing to return to UL as a professor for a course that isn’t run in the university. Members of PAC were also told that Professor Kerstin Mey was currently on paid sabbatical leave.

UL defends Professor Mey’s high salary, citing ‘Experience’

Professoriate salaries in the University of Limerick run from €135,000 to €175,000 per year. UL Chancellor Professor Brigid Laffan told the committee that Professor Mey’s new role as Professor of Visual Culture came after a period of negotiation “involving legal advice on both sides”. She said Professor Mey was at the higher end of the salary band due to her experience level.

She also said that when Professor Kerstin Mey returns from sabbatical, she will begin her role conducting research work. The Public Accounts Committee was told that Professor Kerstin Mey received no severance payments after resigning from her position as President of the University of Limerick. 
However, TD’s have questioned her new role as the university has no visual culture course.  

UL Provost and Acting President Professor Shane Kilcommins Shane Kilcommins acknowledged to the PAC committee that there was currently no course for Professor Mey to teach, as UL does not currently teach visual culture. 

University pauses project to redesign student portal

Members of the PAC committee were also informed about a project that the university had paused to redesign the student portal, which documents student grades. This arose after close to €10 million had been spent on the project. 
Professor Kilcommins said he had decided to “pause” the process as “we need to look at it to make sure the best decision is made for the university”.  
He denied, however, that the final cost of the project could total between €20m and €30m, saying the total was “not anticipated” to run that high.