Dublin City Universit (DCU) has spent €727,099 on legal fees in the past three years, most of it on disputes involving staff.

The cash-strapped college, headed by Ferdinand von Prondzynski, an expert in labour law, spent €476,506 in legal fees in 2007 alone, according to figures partly obtained under the Freedom of Information act.

The year before it spent €54,634 and in 2008 the bill came to €195,959. No up-to-date figures are available for 2009 but the university claims that they are not as high as previous years.

In 2007 a case involving Professor Paul Cahill, an employee of DCU, was heard in the High Court. Cahill had been dismissed after telling DCU of a conditional job offer from NUI Galway.

Judge Frank Clarke found that the termination of the biotechnology lecturer’s employment was “invalid” and ordered he be reinstated. The university then appealed to the Supreme Court. Judgment was reserved at a hearing two weeks ago.

In 2006, the Equality Tribunal ordered DCU to pay €10,000 damages to Dr Jane Horgan, a statistics lecturer, who had claimed she was overlooked for a senior post because she was a woman.

The following year the Labour Court also found in Horgan’s favour and stated that she should be appointed associate professor with effect from 2002, and given full retrospection of salary and benefits.

Von Prondzynski has defended the costs and said that DCU’s legal fees have “probably been the lowest in the sector”. “When HR issues arise that have the potential to set a precedent, or involve ongoing complications, it is better and more cost-effective to seek a final ruling, rather than risk longer term issues continuing to dog the university,” he said.

DCU “only ever had one” High Court hearing, he pointed out, which was “much less than others”.

Von Prondzynski, who is to step down next year, insisted DCU had “very effective methods for resolving HR cases” and in all other cases these have worked. No student services have been affected as a result of the expenditure, he said.

Defending the decision to appeal the Cahill case to the Supreme Court, he added: “The university took the view that the High Court case raised issues appropriate for an appeal to the Supreme Court, which is not particularly costly, while being important in order to present us with legal clarity.”

Other university sources, however, are unhappy at the amount of money spent. Last November, Siptu staff voted no confidence in DCU management over an alleged failure to develop suitable dismissal procedures.

Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael education spokesman, said Batt O’Keeffe, the education minister, should call a meeting between all higher level education bodies to investigate such “excessive” expenditure.

“I presume that this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these types of figures,” Hayes said. “At a time when money is so scarce, it really is a scandal that taxpayers’ money is being wasted on legal fees.”

The Department of Education said that universities are autonomous statutory bodies and that costs relating to employment disputes are matters for college management.

Mike Jennings, general secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, criticised the expenditure but said that the figure wasn’t surprising.

“Universities are using high-cost barristers more and more to do routine industrial- relations work that trade union officials and personnel officers should be able to sort out across the table,” he said.

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