Working group ‘a smokescreen’ says GMIT Action Group

Edwin McGreal

A new working group created to formulate a plan for the ‘sustainable future’ of GMIT Castlebar has been dismissed by the Mayo GMIT Action Group as a smokescreen. The establishment of the working group was announced during a visit to the campus by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton on Friday.
The Mayo GMIT Action Group was set up in recent weeks to campaign for the long-term future of GMIT’s campus in Castlebar in the wake of ongoing concerns over cutbacks.
Spokesperson for the group, Harry Barrett, said described the Taoiseach’s visit as disappointing. “Staff, students and the local community are very disappointed that both Taoiseach and minister came empty handed on Friday, with nothing more to announce than a working group that’ll end up telling us what we all ready know,” he said.
“What is being proposed is a smokescreen and a delaying tactic to avoid dealing with the core issues: the lack of proper funding and lack of board representation.
“Mayo GMIT has a deficit of €2.4 million. The minister should have apologised for the budget cuts he imposed that led to this deficit. He should have announced extra core funding to allow Mayo GMIT to have secured its future,” Mr Barrett added.
The timeframe working group is due to issue a report to on the campus to the Higher Education Authority’s Finance Committee in the third quarter of this year.
Speaking on Friday, Enda Kenny was keen to talk up the campus’s positive attributes. “Some of the recent commentary in local media is portraying a negative image of GMIT Castlebar. We must remember that Castlebar is a vibrant campus,” he said. “I believe the student community remains vibrant and a part of the town’s social and cultural life. Before the end of this year, the Outdoor Education Centre will be completed, adding to the ongoing investment in this site.”
The Taoiseach added that the Mayo campus of GMIT ‘will have an important role to play as we seek to embed economic and jobs growth into the region’, citing the Regional Action Plan for Jobs West which was launched in Castlebar in November 2015.
That plan, which covers Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, aims to create 25,000 new jobs in the period up to 2020. Mr Kenny claims that already almost 10,000 jobs have been created in the west since that plan was launched.

Board representation
The Mayo GMIT Action Group is also critical of the lack of a Mayo voice on the board of GMIT in Galway.
“Paddy McGuinness, the original campaigner for a Mayo campus, identified the concerns of funding and seats on the board of GMIT, at the recent public meeting [held last month in Castlebar]. His concerns expressed that night have not been addressed by this announcement of a working group.
“Indeed, he specifically warned campaigners not to accept working groups, review papers, audits or the likes as a means of stalling on the core issue – that is securing the future of Mayo GMIT.
“I would appeal to An Taoiseach again, who is in ‘time added on’ in terms of his leadership, to secure the future of Mayo GMIT before he walks off the pitch, well before the first report of the so-called working group,” Mr Barrett added.
The Mayo GMIT Action Group members include Martin Corcoran and Celine King, former students who have led the campaign for securing the future of the campus; Patricia Reddington, Students’ Union President at the Castlebar campus; and Harry Barrett, a national school teacher and former Labour town councillor in Castlebar.

Snub?
Minister Bruton’s visit to Castlebar on Friday was criticised by the Chairman of the Castlebar Municipal District of Mayo County Council, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne.
“We take exception to the fact that Mayo County Council wrote to the minister seeking a delegation from the council about GMIT Castlebar and he comes to the town and ignores us. It shows the lack of a priority from him for GMIT’s future when he won’t meet us,” Cllr Kilcoyne told The Mayo News.
Meanwhile GMIT has announced a new Chairman. Cormac MacDonncha takes over from former Mayo County Manager Des Mahon, whose term ended in October 2016.
Mr McDonncha is a native of Galway city. Joe Cunningham served as Acting Chairman after Mr Mahon’s term ended. Mr McDonncha is the Operations Director for ThermoKing in their plants in Galway and Essen, Germany.