Galway Bay fm newsroom - NUI Galway has been heavily criticised by the Dáils Public Accounts Committee over a 'major failure' in corporate governance at the university.
It's as the PAC has published its report into the financial accounts of seven third level institutions nationwide.
The PAC report focuses on the financial accounts of seven third-level institutions across Ireland - NUI Galway, Dublin IT, University College Cork, Cork IT, the University of Limerick, Waterford IT and Dundalk IT.
It's described by committee Chairman Deputy Sean Fleming as a vital tool in ensuring bodies funded by the taxpayer are held publicly accountable for their spending.
The report highlights a lack of transparency over the way money is spent at some of the institutions under scrutiny - as well as failures in corporate goverance.
The report criticises NUI Galway for delays of more than two years in providing up-to-date certified accounts.
It describes the situation as grave - and says it's unacceptable that NUI Galway is continuing to receive state funding with records that are years out of date.
It says the delay in presenting accounts is a major failure of corporate goverance and must be regularised immediatey.
Also raised is the use of, and accounting for, foundations and trust funds - with NUI Galway having a foundation balance of almost €60 million as of June 2014.
This is the largest such fund of all the institutions examined by a significant margain - and the report notes a significant overlap of membership between institutions boards and the boards of the foundations associated with those institutions.
During 2013, NUI Galway also spent over 1 million euro on non-competitive tender contracts which are described as posing a significant risk to value for money.
The report further raises issues over the cost of temporary staff, on which the university spent almost 2.3 million euro during 2015 alone.
The PAC report puts forward a list of recommendations for all seven universities examined - including much faster filing of accounts, better compliance with procurement guidelines and greater liason with the Higher Education Authority.
