Few controversies in 1986 received as much publicity as the decision by the then Minister for Education, former Deputy Gemma Hussey, to close Carysfort College as a primary teacher training institution. We all recall the very vigorous campaign led by the then principal of the college, Sister Regina Durkan, who was fully supported by the then Opposition spokesperson on Education, Deputy O'Rourke. We recall the considerable hysteria whipped up by the controversy, the large crowds, the public protests outside the gates of this building. We vividly recall the very clear unequivocal commitment given in 1986 by Deputy O'Rourke delivered very forcibly both inside and outside this House that if and when she became Minister for Education she would keep Carysfort College open as a teacher training college.

History records that Deputy O'Rourke became Minister for Education in March 1987 and far from keeping Carysfort College open she presided over its closure. It was fair to assume that Carysfort College as a controversy had firmly been put to bed. It certainly seemed so when a property development company purchased Carysfort College and its 90 acres of land in October 1989. As its primary interest was in the area of housing development, Davmac sold the college and the 20 acres immediately surrounding it to a company known as JHA Exports whose two directors were William Harris and his brother, the well known businessman and motor [512] car and truck importer, Mr. Pino Harris. The price was 6.5 million.
It is well known that Mr. Harris intended initially to use Carysfort College as a multi-private educational institution and entered detailed negotiations with various interested parties with a view to putting this type of operation in place. Plans and costings were commissioned and drawn up. However, within one month Mr. Harris changed his mind and wanted out of the deal. Mr. Harris is a man of means and it is quite obvious he was confronted with the sudden realisation that his private third level education complex was not such a good idea after all and was not going to yield the type of short term dividend and profits he would have wished and expected. The problem in such a situation is to get a buyer for the property and make a profit.
It is well known that when the Sisters of Mercy decided to put Carysfort on the market, University College Dublin displayed an interest in acquiring it in view of its proximity to the college. However, UCD were given no encouragement by the Department of Education. In April 1989 UCD decided therefore to go ahead with their own plans to build the Smurfit Graduate Business School on their 300 acre Belfield campus. The cost of the project was to be 5 million and it was to be self-financing with 1.5 million coming from Mr. Smurfit, 1 million by way of a repayable loan from the college development fund, a further 2 million from private resources and 1.5 million by way of grants. It was to be self-financing and was not to cost the taxpayer anything.
In March 1990 the architects' plans for a new building were approved by the college building committee. According to Dr. Masterson, President of UCD, last Tuesday, "by April-May, as detailed costings emerged, it became clear that the cost of the proposed new building was going to be a serious problem". Dr. Masterson went on to say that they then began to scale down the building with a view to keeping it within the 5 million budget projection. However, there are [513] no details of how much it would be scaled down or how much over budget it would go.
According to Dr. Masterson the estate agents, Gunne, acting for Harris Brothers approached UCD in July 1990 with a view to considering the possibility of purchasing Carysfort College. UCD looked at the property but decided not to go ahead because of the cost factor. It is worth recalling that when the Sisters of Mercy decided initially to sell Carysfort, UCD - as I said before - were given no encouragement by the Department of Education to buy the property. When Davmac put the property on the market in June 1990 and when it was available for 6.5 million UCD were not approached or did not receive any contact or encouragement from the Department of Education. Nothing happened by way of advice to them to go ahead and purchase the property. Yet, suddenly in September 1990, a mere three months after Mr. Harris purchased the property for 6.5 million and a mere two months after his agents approached UCD to buy the property, the Minister for Education entered the scene.
I want to thank Dr. Masterson for clarifying once and for all last Tuesday, despite repeated attempts by the Minister for Education to evade the issue, that these major initiatives in relation to the purchase of Carysfort College by UCD were taken by the Minister for Education in September 1990. As Dr. Masterson put it, "an initiative by the Minister for Education inaugurated a new phase in the college's interest in Carysfort". Dr. Masterson went to say that the Minister for Education, Deputy O'Rourke, held a meeting with the registrar, the secretary of the college and the Chairman of the Graduate Business School to discuss the possibilities of a graduate business school. Suddenly the Belfield plans, which were very far advanced, were abandoned and intensive "hands on" and urgent negotiations began in relation to the purchase of the college by UCD. It is quite clear that there was a considerable conflict within UCD as to the wisdom of going ahead and as to whether they [514] should depart from their long-standing core policy of campus consolidation, of locating all their faculties and facilities on their more than adequate 300 acres in Belfield.
Dr. Masterson's statement also makes it clear that the commerce faculty refused to allow their undergraduates to be transferred to Carysfort. However, in view of the new spirit of openness and the positive promptings of the Minister for Education, a purchase price of 8 million was agreed between UCD and Gunne in November 1990. There was, of course, the other little factor that it would take a mere 3.5 million to convert the building and make it suitable for a graduate business school. At the end of November 1990 UCD told the Government quite bluntly that the most they were prepared to pay was 2 million towards the overall cost; in other words, there was a clear ultimatum to the Government that if they wanted UCD to buy this facility they had better come up with the money.
On 12 December the Taoiseach, the Minister for Education, the President of UCD and Mr. Laurence Crowley, chairman of the Graduate Business School, met to discuss the funding of the project. According to Dr. Masterson the Taoiseach tried to persuade UCD to raise a greater proportion of the overall cost of the project. Dr. Masterson couched his refusal to do so in the diplomatic language, that "this suggestion the President declined for various reasons". The UCD President went on to explain that "the Taoiseach indicated that he would recommend that the Government support the purchase along the lines of the college proposal". Lo and behold, University College, Dublin, ended up purchasing Carysfort Training College for 8 million from the Harris Brothers, thereby giving them a grand profit of 1.5 million for a mere seven months' investment. Not bad when you consider that at the time because of the impending Gulf crisis, a slump in the property market and an over-abundance of commercial property, there was a considerable reduction in property value.
[515] The Smurfit Graduate Business School which is going ahead in Belfield as a self-financing project costing approximately 5 million in April 1990 has now been transferred en bloc to Carysfort Training College for a total purchase price of 8 million, plus 3.7 million refurbishment costs, of which the taxpayer has to fork out 9.7 million, with UCD and Mr. Smurfit paying the balance - 2 million - between them. I am afraid, from the point of view of the taxpayers, this is not the end of the story because the Taoiseach again became involved. On 21 December 1990, Dr. Masterson returned the Taoiseach's telephone call during which, in his own words, "an issue concerning operational costs was satisfactorily clarified". It now transpires that John Citizen, the taxpayer, is again stuck for the operating costs as well as for the capital cost of purchasing this graduate business school to honour the contribution of Dr. Michael Smurfit to Irish business, as a result of the personal intervention of the Taoiseach.
The Department of Education are one of the big spending Departments and have a budget of 1.3 billion. They operate, like other Departments, very rigorous accounting procedures; yet, on this occasion, virtually all the rules, regulations and accounting safeguards were dispensed with. Carysfort could have been purchased by UCD in June 1990 for 6.5 million, yet it ended up costing the taxpayer 8 million plus an additional 1.7 million a mere seven months later. No independent valuation was carried out by the Valuation Office or any independent agency which must be the case when public money is involved.
According to Dr. Masterson - and indeed the Minister - "the competent college experts judged this to be good value". I wonder whether this is the same expert opinion which underestimated the cost of the graduate business school which was to be built initially in UCD. Was this the same team of experts which looked at Carysfort in July, a few months beforehand, and thought it was too expensive at that stage? Suddenly in [516] December it became excellent value. Of course, from their point of view it was good value in that they were getting an asset valued at several million pounds without any contribution from their own coffers as well as having the running costs underwritten by the Taoiseach.
It is worth noting - and this has not come out before - that in April 1989 the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Education, Mr. Finbarr O'Callaghan, wrote to the Sisters of Mercy, Carysfort, stating that the Department of Education had no interest in and no plans for Carysfort. In other words, they were given the nod to go ahead and sell it. Yet, the following year the Minister for Education and the Taoiseach became intimately involved in a series of meetings and telephone calls in order to ensure that the property was bought by UCD.
The Higher Education Authority are the statutory agency for supervising and monitoring all third level education and yet, in this case, they were ignored and by-passed. The Minister acted illegally in doing so. Section 5 of the Higher Education Authority Act, 1971, states that the Higher Education Authority "shall advise the Minister on the need or otherwise for the establishment of new institutions of higher education, on the nature and form of those institutions and on the legislative measures required in relation to their establishment or in relation to any existing institution of higher education". The section is quite clear. It states that the Higher Education Authority "shall advise the Minister on the need for new institutions of higher education", yet, here we had a new graduate business school costing 11.7 million in the process of establishment and the statutory obligation of the Minister to be advised by the Higher Education Authority is not complied with. Not alone was it not complied with, not alone was there no consultation or dialogue with the Higher Education Authority, but the members of the Higher Education Authority actually wrote to the Minister for Education expressing their annoyance at their exclusion from any involvement in [517] the project. It is quite clear that the Minister acted illegally by not consulting the Higher Education Authority, by not seeking their advice and by not being advised by them.
Section 8 (1) of the same Act states "Any request by an institution of higher education for State subvention shall be submitted by the institution to An tdars" - in this case the Higher Education Authority - "in such manner as An tdars may require". Yet, here we had a situation where UCD needed 9.7 million of State subvention and yet no submission or request was made by them to the Higher Education Authority as specified in this Act. Furthermore, the Minister for Education, being fully aware of the facts, again decided to conspire with UCD in order to totally bypass and sideline the Higher Education Authority, thereby flouting one of the key requirements of this Act.
Section 10 (1) of the same Act states that the Higher Education Authority "shall assess amounts of State financial provision, both current and capital, which it recommends for higher education and research or for any part thereof, either in relation to current or future periods". Here we have a State financial provision of 11.7 million being made for capital expenditure and yet the Higher Education Authority which have been vested with the power and, indeed, the obligation because it states "shall assess the amounts of State financial provision", are totally precluded from any involvement in carrying out such an assessment and indeed get the proverbial back-hand from the Minister when they try to protest at being prohibited and obstructed from carrying out their statutory functions.
It is quite clear that the statutory supervisory, monitoring and regulatory role of the Higher Education Authority was totally flouted as a result of the direct intervention by the Minister for Education. It is quite clear that the Minister for Education, probably acting on the Taoiseach's instructions, conducted direct negotiations with University College Dublin completely above the head of [518] the Higher Education Authority. Apart from the gross insult offered to the Higher Education Authority, there is the deliberate undermining of the Higher Education Authority's statutory position. By her actions in the Carysfort project the Minister has acted in a highly irregular manner. She has arbitrarily dispensed with all the normal procedures and guidelines. What she did is illegal in that she flouted the specific and binding requirements of the Higher Education Authority Act, 1971.
I put it to the Minister that at a time when we have the highest primary class sizes in Europe with over 607 classes having more than 45 pupils, when parents are being asked to dig deep into their own pockets to fund primary and second level education, which is supposed to be free but is not free any longer, when the same school bus breaks down three times within a fortnight leaving children stranded on the side of the road, when teachers have to count the number of sticks of chalk they use in the classrooms, when school managers are heavily overdrawn in the bank because the Department have left them stuck for cheques for repairs, maintenance, heating and electrical work, and when the primary school system in inner city Dublin in particular is in danger of imminent collapse because of lack of resources, she acted in a highly irresponsible manner by wasting 9.7 million of taxpayers' money.
The Minister may make the point that the Dil voted through a Supplementary Estimate on 18 December 1990 for the purchase of Carysfort College, but the Opposition voted against it. What the Minister did not tell the House however at that time was the background and details leading up to the purchase of Carysfort. What she did not tell the House was the entire sequence of events leading up to the finalisation of the transaction. What she did not tell the House was that it took the personal and unwarranted intrusion of the Taoiseach and herself to clinch the deal. Finally, what she did not tell the House was that every single rule and guideline put in place over [519] the years to safeguard the public interest was flouted in this case.
Undoubtedly, the most serious breach of regulations was the shoddy treatment of the Higher Education Authority. One may well ask why the Higher Education Authority were relegated to the role of a mere frustrated sideline spectator. I will tell you why they were left out of the action - the Government knew full well that the Higher Education Authority would give the thumbs down to the proposal. The Government knew full well that in pursuit of their statutory oligations the Higher Education Authority, being fully au fait with all third level requirements, would advise that the 9.7 million was badly needed and could be better spent elsewhere.
The Government knew full well that the Higher Education Authority would not go along with the proposals and therefore they took the extraordinary personal intervention of the Taoiseach, with personal meetings and phone calls, and the Minister for Education to rescue and bail out their friend, Mr. Harris and his ill-judged 6.5 million investment. I would put it to the Minister for Education that if any school principal anywhere in the country, any chief executive officer, any clerk in a vocational education office or any caretaker of a school had acted in breach of the basic rules and regulations governing the spending of public money, they would have been booted unceremoniously from office on the spot.
I wish to thank the President of UCD, Dr. Masterson, for clarifying the sequence of events, albeit belatedly. It took many hours of skilful drafting by a public relations company in order to hone, refine and produce the eventual text. However, his statement last Tuesday is clear, unequivocal confirmation of the involvement of the Minister for Education and the Taoiseach and an indictment of their roles in the whole sordid affair. I am happy that in making a statement Dr. Masterson adhered to the principle of his predecessor, John Henry Cardinal Newman who said "As [520] far as we are not on the side of truth, we shall shiver to death". Would that the people at the highest level of political life in this country, the people who have direct involvement in this issue, namely, the Taoiseach, Deputy Haughey, and the Minister for Education, Deputy O'Rourke, would even have the slightest glimpse of the implications of such a statement. Unfortunately, they have not. Week in, week out, both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education, since the controversy broke afresh, have refused to answer any of the specific questions relating to what was and is essentially a shady deal.
Today in this House the Taoiseach did as he did on several occasions recently - he simply walked away from the questions by merely stating again that it was a good deal. Yes, indeed, it was a very good deal for Mr. Harris, but we are entitled to know who exactly the Taoiseach met besides Dr. Masterson. We are entitled to know whether he met Mr. Harris or Mr. Dermot Desmond who, coincidentally, happens to be on the board of the Smurfit Graduate Business School.
The Minister in her usual fashion has sought to confuse the issues by her usual convoluted package of conundrums. When asked by Shane Kenny on "Today at One" on 1 October if the Taoiseach had any meetings with Dr. Masterson in relation to the purchase of Carysfort Training College she ducked, bobbed, weaved and eventually when pressed said: "I would have no doubt that he would have met him on many occasions, on several occasions at various events to which they were both invited". It then transpired that, far from a casual meeting, the Minister, Deputy O'Rourke, as confirmed by Dr. Masterson's statement last week, actually sat down with the Taoiseach, Dr. Masterson and the chairman of the new college to discuss indepth at a full business meeting all the arrangements surrounding the Carysfort deal.
I do not want the Minister to come into this House and again recite the argument [521] that she was making more places available for third level education. It is quite clear that the places for third level would have been provided in UCD at no cost to the taxpayer. That argument simply does not wash. No money was available to UCD when they first became interested in the project. Lots of money was available to UCD in order to enable Mr. Harris to get the monkey off his back. No independent valuation was carried out as even the humblest urban district council must do if they are disposing of a labourer's cottage.
The Higher Education Authority had their statutory function and role totally undermined. If one trawled round for a good example of a bad deal, a wrong deal, a crooked and a rotten deal, one need look no further than the Carysfort saga. It smells of croneyism. It smells of TACA. It smells of the golden circle, the golden aura that surrounds this Government. Would the Minister not seriously consider, in the light of her proven involvement in this issue, and in the light of her highly irregular and illegal actions, doing as any decent Minister would do in any other jurisdiction, resign her office?

