Universities lose €3.6m in funding as punishment for staff top-ups

PetiteBy Shane Phelan. UNIVERSITIES are to lose out on €3.6m in funding as punishment for making unauthorised top-ups to staff -- but the pain is to be spread across five years. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) is withholding the funding as a sanction for unauthorised allowances given to university presidents and other high-ranking staff between 2005 and 2011. The universities have not been forced to pay back the cash. Instead, they are losing out on future funding. More...