Staff and students to stage demonstration over Carlow College closure

STAFF and students at Carlow College St Patrick's will hold a demonstration on the college grounds tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1.30pm, calling for greater transparency around the decisions that led to the college's closure and for stronger redundancy arrangements.

The demonstration, organised by the Carlow College Staff Action Group, follows this paper's reporting on South East Technological University's (SETU) decision not to fully release the Mazars consultancy report that informed the closure decision, following a Freedom of Information request.

As reported by Laoise Murray in our 8 September edition, SETU said releasing the full report "could reasonably be expected to prejudice ongoing deliberations and negotiations and would disclose commercially sensitive information relating to the parties involved".

The group has three key concerns. The first is that staff have not been included in the wider decision-making process about the college's future, despite previous assurances that they would be engaged with. The second is that the two-year teach-out period, (during which current students will complete their programmes), should be used to explore alternatives to closure. The third is the arrangements for staff delivering that period.

Staff say they accept the existing commitments under the Memorandum of Agreement but believe the period should be used to examine alternatives to closure and redundancy. They are also backing calls from members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for the closure to be suspended while the full Mazars report is released and examined.

On the third concern, staff are seeking transparent, ring-fenced redundancy arrangements. For those delivering the teach-out, they also want sustainable workloads, clear pay and progression arrangements, and proper recognition and benchmarking of academic and administrative roles.

In a statement, the group said: "We are not asking for decisions already made to be ignored. We are asking to be included in the process. The two-year period should not simply become a countdown to redundancy and closure; it should be used to properly examine what alternatives and possibilities exist for Carlow College, its staff and its students."