Ninth Level Ireland

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has warmly welcomed a High Court decision regarding redundancy payments for fixed-term workers in universities. In the High Court on 17 February, Mr Justice Kearns rejected an appeal by University College Cork (UCC) against an earlier Labour Court Determination …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 17 February]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers IFUT has welcomed a new report recommending all third-level colleges in Scotland to ‘adopt and incorporate the definition of Academic Freedom which is contained in Ireland’s Universities Act, 1997′ …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 16 February]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has demanded that any proposals from the HEA to merge structures of third-level colleges must be subject to full consultation with staff in advance of any HEA submissions to the Minister for Education …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 14 February]

“The president of Cork Institute of Technology says the standards needed to become a technological university are too focused on research and not enough on meeting the needs of industry and the regions …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 14 February]

“University lecturers are refusing to co-operate with the Croke Park agreement in a dispute over what they claim are compulsory redundancies at Trinity College Dublin …” (more)

[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 23 January]

“The National Executive of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has voted to instruct all its branches to defer negotiations on implementation of productivity concessions under the Croke Park Agreement, pending resolution of a serious dispute in Trinity College Dublin …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 22 January]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) told The University Times on Friday that they were ‘stalling all further engagement with the Croke Park Agreement process’ in the wake of compulsory redundancies in Trinity College. The announcement is expected to be made official with a press release on Sunday evening …” (more)

[Rónán Burtenshaw, University Times, 21 January]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has criticised the 2% cut in core funding to Higher Education in the Budget, saying it clashes with previously stated IMF policy that investment in Higher Education helps to promote future recovery in countries in economic difficulty …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 5 December]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers has expressed serious concern about a warning of possible prosecution issued to an academic at NUI Maynooth by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission …” (more)

[Lorna Siggins, Irish Times, 31 October]

“In a strongly worded statement, Mike Jennings, General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, claimed that small changes in university ranking are being taken out of proportion and that they are not reflective of a university’s true value …” (more)

[Colm O’Grada, University Observer, 21 October]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has criticised the validity of the rankings process used to determine alleged ‘top’ universities in the Times Higher Education rankings. IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings said: ‘Since there are approximately 17,000 Higher Education institutions in the world, any university within the top 500 is therefore in the top 3% world-wide …’” (more)

[Kate Palmer, Trinity News, 5 October]

“The taxpayer is getting a good return on the investment in scientific research, according to Science Foundation Ireland. The foundation yesterday released its annual report for 2010 and also its annual census of scientists who have received financial support …” (more)

[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 9 September]

“IFUT is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, TD, to discuss plans by UCC to spend hundreds of thousands of euro of taxpayers’ funds on a High Court appeal against a binding ruling governed by the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003 …” (more)

[IFUT, 25 August]

“Third-level bosses are set to resist attempts to cut further jobs as figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show that some colleges have already reduced staffing by almost 10% in the last two years …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 11 July]

“The union that represents Irish academics has defended salaries of €100,000 or more for 1,000 university lecturers. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Ireland’s seven universities and Dublin Institute of Technology have more than 1,000 lecturers who earn six-figure sums …” (more)

[Ronan McGreevy, Irish Times, 28 June]

“Academics have today defended salary levels in the third-level sector after an investigation revealed high wages for some university staff. The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), which represents two-thirds of third-level academic staff, said the majority of lecturers are not high earners …” (more)

[Charlie Taylor, Irish Times, 27 June]

“Following intensive negotiations conducted over recent months with the Department of Education and Skills, members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) have voted decisively to accept the clarifications recommended to them by their Executive Committee …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 2 June]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has appointed Ms Joan Donegan as Assistant General Secretary. Ms Donegan was previously employed as a Branch Organiser (Industrial Relations Official) with SIPTU. She is a qualified Mediator and has an MA from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth in Conflict Resolution Studies …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 26 May]

“The Maynooth branch of IFUT has decided to reject the ‘Croke Park Agreement’ after a lively extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday 17 May where the issues were debated thoroughly. The members present voted unanimously to reject the deal, save for 5 abstentions …” (more)

[Laurence Cox, Fringe Thoughts, 20 May]

“The death of Dr Garret FitzGerald will be mourned by his fellow members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), the union of which he remained a full and committed member up to the time of his death. Dr FitzGerald was the only Taoiseach in Ireland’s history who was concurrently a full member of a Congress-affiliated trade union. He was always proud of that fact as were, and are, all of his many friends in IFUT …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 19 May]