The Higher Education Authority (HEA) have advised that subsequent to University College Cork's (UCC) submission of its Section 64 report on 2 May 2024, the HEA established a series of meetings with the UCC Chair and senior executives. Through this mechanism, the HEA and UCC met on four occasions between June 2024 and June 2025, as part of the process following on from the Section 64 request and the initiation of the remedial measure under Section 66 of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022. These meetings were in addition to the normal engagements between the HEA and UCC.
Following on from a meeting on 3 June 2025, in view of the established plan, progress to date and the independent validation provided by Internal Audit, the HEA-UCC engagement moved to the regular regime of oversight and reporting with assurance provided by the UCC Governing Authority. The HEA re-affirmed its expectation that the plan is monitored appropriately and reported accordingly.
UCC continue to progress the implementation of their Section 64 plan (Governance Ireland Action Plan). This is overseen by the UCC Audit and Risk Committee, and the most recent confirmation, as at 9 December, continues to provide assurance that progress has been reviewed and endorsed by the UCC Governing Authority. In January 2024, capital spending was paused pending the outcome of a review of the University’s Capital Development Programme by UCC.
In June 2024, following consideration of this review and information provided by UCC, the capital pause was released on strategic projects on the basis that UCC’s standard governance procedures for such capital projects would apply. In June 2025, following the move to a regular regime of oversight and reporting, the HEA notified UCC of the lifting of the capital pause and that normal UCC Governance Procedures and Oversight would apply in respect of all capital projects going forward.
