Inquiry to be launched into public funds for third level chaplains

Fr Paddy Rushe is the current Dundalk IT chaplain but the college have been criticised for paying him without the position going to tender

The Minister for Education has ordered an investigation into the way public funds are used to pay for third-level college chaplains.

The investigation comes just weeks after Dundalk IT said they would tender for the role going forward after complaints from Atheist Ireland over the €30,000 a year role, currently filled by Fr Paddy Rushe.

The majority of chaplains in universities, institutes of technology and colleges of education are Catholic and usually male.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) confirmed it was drawing up the terms of the investigation, which will examine the way publicly-funded colleges appoint chaplains.

Recruitment procedures and pay for chaplains vary widely, with some directly employed by colleges and other provided by churches as a contracted service.

Chaplains’ salaries are met by the colleges in some cases. In other instances they are paid by their churches, with their services contracted by the colleges.

Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan has said appointments of chaplains to salaried posts in the public sector must comply with the sector’s appointment and procurement criteria. In addition, appointments should not breach the employment control framework which sets limits on the number of employees in the public service.

The HEA said it was not known how many chaplains were working in colleges. Nor were their denominations known, how they were appointed, how much they were paid, or how they were paid, said a spokesman.

“The Higher Education Authority allocates recurrent funding to all HEA designated higher education institutions and the internal disbursement of funding is then a matter for the individual institution. Most third level institutions provide chaplaincy services for their student body and decisions on such provision are a matter for the individual institutions as autonomous bodies.

“The HEA is undertaking a survey on the recruitment of chaplaincy services and the exact details are currently being finalised as to the scope of the exercise,” said the spokesman.

Dundalk IT currently has a contract for its chaplaincy service, with the Catholic Dioceses of Armagh at a cost of €30,000 per year, and an honorarium contract with the Presbyterian Church for €1,000 per year.

Dundalk IT set to change policy on appointment of chaplain

John Hamill

Dundalk IT are reportedly set to change their policy in relation to the appointment of the college chaplain by tendering for the role for the first time ever.

Their decision comes after a local atheist applied for the position in the college after being ordained as a minister within a non-Christian church back in May.

Castleblayney man John Hamill hit out at Dundalk IT earlier this year for spending €30,000 of state funds towards the provision of a Catholic chaplaincy service and €1,200 a year to a similar Presbyterian role.

He claimed that the payment breaches Article 44.2.2 of the Irish Constitution, which says that “the State guarantees not to endow any religion,” thus prohibiting the funding of a specific church using public funds.

Hamill insisted that no decision was ever recorded by the college’s board to make these annual payments and that no tender was issued or process followed to allow other religious or secular bodies to offer pastoral services to students.

Hamill said this was “nakedly sectarian as the role is not advertised and no other Churches or secular bodies are invited to participate.”

Fr Paddy Rushe is the current Dundalk IT chaplain

In response he applied for the role as an Ordained Minister in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He did so “such that any attempt to award the role to a Catholic Bishop without tender, would be discriminating against me on a sectarian basis.”

Having applied for the chaplain’s position, the college responded to him this week suggesting they would change their policy to tender for the role for the first time.

Their letter, signed by Dundalk IT president Denis Cummins last Friday, read: “We are currently considering the type of Chaplaincy Service that we will, in future, provide at the Institute. The tender documents etc. will be issued following this exercise.”

Fr Paddy Rushe has been the Dundalk IT chaplain in recent years with Reverend Stanley Millen making himself available to Presbyterian students when required.

Atheist Ireland hit out at Dundalk IT for using €30,000 of public funds for Catholic chaplain

Fr Paddy Rushe is the current Dundalk IT chaplain

Atheist Ireland have hit out at Dundalk IT for spending €30,000 of state funds towards the provision of a Catholic chaplaincy service.

The group obtained details through a Freedom of Information request on the amount DkIT pays to employ full-time chaplain Fr Paddy Rushe.

They also learned that €1,200 per year is paid to Presbyterian chaplain Reverend Stanley Millen to make himself available to students if required.

Concerns about the chaplaincy were raised earlier this year after a student complained about receiving emails from Fr Rushe.

Atheist Ireland claims that the payment breaches Article 44.2.2 of the Irish Constitution, which says that “the State guarantees not to endow any religion,” thus prohibiting the funding of a specific church using public funds.

They insist that no decision was ever recorded by the college’s board to make these annual payments and that no tender was issued or process followed to allow other religious or secular bodies to offer pastoral services to students.

Dundalk IT students raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy Ireland

Some of the students supporting the event yesterday by selling tickets

The final year Business Ethics students at Dundalk Institute of Technology were set the task recently of creating a charity event to raise awareness and funds for a chosen charity. After a class vote, the charity chosen was Muscular Dystrophy Ireland (MDI).

MDI provide information and support to people with neuromuscular conditions and their families through a range of support services and is a voluntary organisation depending solely on donations and state contributions.

From Tuesday to Thursday of this week the class has been running various events to help achieve the goals set out. Tickets are being sold all week for the raffle which takes place this afternoon in the DkIT college bar. There are some great prizes to be won, including 2 Garth Brooks tickets, signed Liverpool and Ireland rugby jerseys, a DVD player, hampers, bottles of wine etc.

Fr Patrick Rushe, the college chaplain, locked up in a temporary jail to raise funds for MDI

The class also organised, a wheelchair basketball tournament on Tuesday, which was great success. Yesterday was the main day of the week, the ‘Jail Break’ and ‘Day in the Life’. DkIT’s chaplain Fr Patrick Rushe (or Fr Paddy as he’s most commonly known) volunteered to be the prisoner in the make shift jail cell, and would remain there until the €500 bail was met by donations both offline (through collecting donations throughout the college) and online (through the MyCharity page set up).

By around 2pm the bail was met and Fr Paddy was released. The event attracted a great vibe around the college and it was brilliant to see how charitable the students were to such as great cause.

Another event which was also run was called ‘A Day In The Life’ where six members of DkIT, including lecturer Colin Cooney, spent the day in a wheelchair. Over €2,700 was raised yesterday alone. The goal is to raise €10,000 by tonight and all of the proceeds will go to MDI.

The class so far have raised close to €9000 as of yesterday so this evening there will be a final push to try and raise the last few donations and to sell the final raffle tickets to reach the goal.

The class along with MDI are very grateful for the support of the students and anyone who was made donations, sponsored the various events, provided raffle prizes etc. There cannot be enough praise given for the kindness and generosity that had being shown. If anyone wishes to make any donations, small or large it would greatly be appreciated and you can do so here.

Action from the wheelchair basketball tournament