Students and staff members from the former Church of Ireland College of Further Education on Friday protested outside the college’s former site in Rathmines against unresolved compensation claims due to losses incurred by its closure earlier this year.
They have urged senior members of CICE to work with trade unions to resolve these problems, which include unsatisfactory contracts and lack of notice to the college’s closure.
Alongside St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra and Mater Dei Institute, CICE amalgamated into DCU last year through the Incorporation Programme.
The move saw CICE move into the newly established fifth faculty of DCU, the Institute of Education, with the college relocated to the St. Patrick’s campus in Drumcondra.
Read more on the DCU Incorporation Programme:
- CICE staff member ‘made homeless’ following Incorporation
- MacCraith: Incorporation will make an impact on Irish society
- DCU incorporation reaches official completion
General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers Mike Jennings said that that students and staff in CICE had been failed and that the promises made to the college had not been fulfilled since the amalgamation, which was finalised in 2016.
He said: “There has been a serious failure by college governors and management to deliver on their responsibilities and commitments to staff and students of the former CICE.”
Chair of the CICE board of governors, Archbishop Michael Jackson, called for a quick response to resolve the disputes of staff.
“We call…to urgently respond to allow a speedy resolution of these issues”, he said.
The protests come two months after this paper revealed how a CICE member of staff had been made homeless following the Incorporation Programme, with a previously agreed accommodation agreement with CICE not carried forward by DCU.
Picketers said that programmes previously offered in CICE were not being carried into DCU and were subsequently being terminated, while they also critizised the 24 hours notice given to the college’s closure in August.
Jennings added that part-time staff members are dissatisfied regarding contracts offered since becoming DCU staff members which offer uncertainty in relation to hours and payment.
In a statement Archbishop Jackson responded by saying that CICE was attempting to resolve the disputes via the Department of Education and that it had engaged with staff members through the Workplace Relations Commission in the past.
Aaron Gallagher
Why is an image of rosary beads used to illustrate this article?