Labour candidate for Castlebar Town Council Dr Bernie Courtney has received notification of her removal from the liaison committee between Mayo VEC and GMIT-Castlebar Campus; a somewhat timely occurrence following the controversy the dental surgeon sparked with her recent remarks about the future of the Castlebar campus of GMIT— in that the campus was to be downgraded — comments which were refuted in a statement issued from GMIT.
Dr Courtney, who has been a member of the Mayo Vocational Educational Committee since 2004, a member of the governing body of the Institute of Technology, Sligo, and on the liaison committee of the GMIT Castlebar campus, told the Mayo Advertiser that she cannot understand why she has suddenly been removed from the membership list — notice of which she received in a letter dated March 18, from the head of GMIT Castlebar campus, Dr Barbara Burns, stating that the reason for her removal was a “conflict of interest” as “I have become aware that you are on the board of governors for the Sligo Institute of Technology”. The letter was also sent to CEO of Mayo VEC, Dr Katie Sweeney.
According to Dr Courtney in such cases, ie, where one party believes another’s interests to be conflicting, it is customary to outline the case and allow the person to make a choice as to which institute she wishes to remain with. Dr Courtney has, apparently, “been given no such choice” and as an appointee of Mayo VEC “then surely it is they who have the authority to remove me from the list, albeit on the recommendation of Dr Burns,” she said.
The Labour candidate said: “I am disappointed at the decision Dr Burns has made. I fail to see where a conflict of interest may lie given that the liaison committee is not a decision making body, but receives twice yearly reports from Galway on decisions that have been made already by the GMIT governing body — many of which have already been reported in the press.”
“Indeed my immediate predecessor as Mayo VEC rep in Sligo, the late Mr Joe Langan, was also Mayo VEC’s rep in GMIT,” Dr Courtney added. “He held both positions simultaneously for seven to eight years without a mention of conflict of interest in either campus. It is my understanding that the current Donegal VEC rep on Sligo IT also sits on the board of Letterkenny IT, again no mention of conflicts of interest.”
Dr Courtney told the Mayo Advertiser that this controversial matter may be raised at a Mayo VEC meeting tonight (Thursday ) in Castlebar, as at present she does not know if a final decision has been made or if Mayo VEC wishes to appoint someone else in her place.
In summing up her abrupt removal Dr Courtney commented: “I think this apparent knee-jerk reaction owes more to my recent concerns in the media about the future of GMIT Castlebar and is a case of shooting the messenger when they don’t like the message!”
GMIT also came under criticism this week from local Fianna Fáil TD Beverley Flynn, who said that there needs to be more input into the running of GMIT as currently there is “poor representation and the governance of GMIT fails to reflect the regional role which GMIT is meant to fulfil”.
According to Deputy Flynn there is only one place on the governing body of GMIT from Mayo — out of 20 — with a serious imbalance being shown as seven of the 20 strong GMIT authority are staff members of the college.
“The remit of GMIT is supposed to be regional, serving regional needs and promoting regional activities,” Dep Flynn said. “For Mayo to have only one seat on the governing body flies in the face of service to the whole region.”
