Dr Pat Morgan, Vice-President for the Student Experience, NUI Galway (Photo credit: RTÉ News)
Vice-President for the Student Experience Dr Pat Morgan complicit in discriminatory activity
On Monday 10 November 2014 Isaac Burke, Kezia Burke, Enoch Burke and Ammi Burke were disbarred for life from membership of all student societies at NUI Galway. They were accused of improperly using €325 to pay for flyers. The sanction was handed down by the University Societies Coordination Group (USCG) and confirmed by Vice-President for the Student Experience Dr Pat Morgan. At the time, the four students were committee members of the Christian Union Society and the Life Society. In the 18 months prior to November 2014, they had submitted numerous complaints to university authorities regarding poster ripping, bullying, harassment and abusive behaviour towards Christian students on campus. Most of these complaints remain unresolved to this day.
The draconian sanction imposed upon them is all the more incredible knowing that financial impropriety is rife amongst student societies at NUI Galway. For example, the finalised 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 accounts of one NUI Galway student society reflect an expenditure of at least €8,000 for which no proper explanation has been made. A senior committee member of this society has made these accounts available to the four students. No disciplinary action of any sort has been taken against this society or its committee members.
One expenditure entry in the finalised accounts of this student society is for flights with Ryanair to the value of €5,016.00. However, the receipts indicate that only €3,817.96 was actually paid to Ryanair for the flights, leaving an expenditure of €1,198.04 unexplained. Another entry in the accounts is €379.50 for a dinner and disco. However, the receipts suggest that only €259.70 was actually spent, leaving a deficit of €119.80. In a number of cases no receipts at all are provided, leaving deficits of thousands of euros. A photograph of an event was used to vouch for an another expenditure of €600.00. More than once, the same receipt was used to vouch for multiple transactions. Table 1 provides a brief summary of some of the irregularities in the accounts.
These accounts, as they stand, were approved by the Societies Office at NUI Galway. An email conversation confirms that Societies Officer Ríona Hughes was fully aware of this financial impropriety. In the email shown below (dated Monday 13 June 2016), Ms Hughes is writing to a committee member of the society. She tells the committee member that the 2015-2016 financial accounts have been reviewed, and states
“everything has now been fixed”.
In other words, Ms Hughes is saying that there is nothing wrong with the financial irregularities outlined above in Table 1. This is proof positive that financial impropriety is rife amongst student societies at NUI Galway. The “Billy” mentioned in the email is Billy Stewart, Societies Finance Officer at NUI Galway. It is no surprise that neither Ms Hughes nor the USCG took any disciplinary action against this society or its committee members.
Email from Societies Officer Ríona Hughes, Monday 13 June 2016
Vice-President for the Student Experience Dr Pat Morgan has been aware of these revelations since March 2017 or earlier. Meanwhile, four Christian students, accused of improperly using €325, remain disbarred for life from membership of all student societies. Table 2 (below) summarises the difference in treatment. The definition of religious discrimination is “treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their religion”.
