University of Limerick president Kerstin Mey to resign from position

The president had been on extended sick leave since last March 27, five days after informing the UL student body that the institution had lost €5.3m in overpaying for the acquisition of 20 houses at an estate in Rhebogue, 3km from its main campus.

Her pending resignation was announced by chancellor of the university, Brigid Laffan, in a communication to staff on Friday afternoon. UL said that it would be making no further comment on the matter at this time. 

It is unclear whether or not Prof. Mey will remain as a member of the governing authority of the institution. It is also not yet known what professorship Prof. Mey will be assuming. Before becoming president of the university on a temporary basis in 2020 she had worked as an academic in the field of contemporary art.

She first took over as president of UL in September 2020 after he early retirement of her predecessor Des Fitzgerald. The role was made a permanent one in October of the following year.

Her tenure has been marked by a series of governance controversies. Chief among these was the fallout from UL overpaying by at least €3m for the old Dunnes Stores building in Limerick city centre during Mr Fitzgerald’s presidency in 2019, and the Rhebogue transaction which was carried out in August 2022.

Prof. Mey had twice extended her sick leave before today’s announcement.

She had been due to appear at the Public Accounts Committee in early April to discuss the Rhebogue transaction — however that hearing was postponed on foot of her absence through illness. It was reconvened for May 9, when provost Shane Kilcommins assumed the role of accounting officer for the university.