Cheating probe a ‘serious matter’

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn in the Dáil yesterday acknowledged for the first time that the ongoing investigation into cheating at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology is a “serious matter”.

The probe into cheating, established following revelations in the Galway City Tribune, has racked up costs of over €350,000.

The matter was raised under Topical Issues in the Dáil by Galway East TD Colm Keaveney, who described the expenditure on the probe as “a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money”.

Deputy Keaveney told the Dáil that the cost of this external inquiry into plagiarism and a cover-up of the cheating incident is nearing €400,000.

He said that equates to “700 medical cards, 20 special needs assistants, a few school extensions, 20 Garda cars.” The fact that it has dragged on for three years was threatening the reputation of GMIT, he said.

Minister Quinn said GMIT was an autonomous institute but he pointed out a number of areas in which it can be held to account by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Minister Quinn said the President of GMIT has told him that the inquiry will be published shortly. “To me ‘shortly’ is a few weeks,” said Minister Quinn, who thanked Deputy Keaveney for raising what he said was “a serious matter”.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.