Search Results

Heartiest congratulations to ‘War, Peace and the Derry Journal' author, Pat McArt, on being the first, much-deserved recipient of the Alumnus Award from the Atlantic Technological University. Pat received his award on April 29 at the ATU's Donegal campus in Letterkenny, where he was among the very first intake at the then RTC in 1971. The ATU presented Pat with a beautiful piece of sculpture and produced a short film about his life for screening at this year's graduation (see below). Comhghairdeas libh, Pat and Rosie, from all at Colmcille Press/Cló Cholmcille!

The Swallows are a group of women from northwest Ireland, unbowed and unbroken by the worst the world can throw at them. With brutal honesty and searing hope, through poetry and prose, they remember and reflect on their life challenges. And with humour, empathy and love, they combine to tell the story of how Foyle Network Foundation (Foodbank) helped them form their lasting bond and learn to fly anew. Proceeds from sales are going to Foyle Foodbank.

A massively successful and musical event at the city's civic hub celebrating one of the city's most successful and musical sons, broadcaster and rock guitarist Colum Arbuckle. Two launches (upstairs and downstairs) in the Guildhall, hosted by Mayor Lilian Seenoi-Barr, followed by a Jazz Weekend signing in Waterstones.

Tá brabúis ón leabhar á bhronnadh ar Chumann Faoisimh Leighis na Palaistíne. Proceeds from the book are being donated to the Palestine Medical Relief Society.

Tá brabúis ón leabhar á bhronnadh ar Chumann Faoisimh Leighis na Palaistíne. Proceeds from the book are being donated to the Palestine Medical Relief Society.

Rogha íomhánna ó sheoltaí Dorn San Aer i nDoire agus i mBéal Feirste. Buíochas mór leis an amhránaí Damien Dempsey (sa phictiúr) as a fhormhuiniú cineálta. A selection of images from the Derry and Belfast launches of Dorn San Aer. Many thanks to singer Damien Dempsey (pictured) for his kind endorsement. Tá brabúis ón leabhar á bhronnadh ar Chumann Faoisimh Leighis na Palaistíne. Proceeds from the book are being donated to the Palestine Medical Relief Society.

Jim Simpson presents a copy of his satirical novel about Derry politics to a woman who has great experience in the field, Mayot Lilian Seenoi-Barr. Many thanks to the Derry News for their coverage of the mayoral reception. (See below)

Sitting at the very heart of the tranquil St Columb's Park on the east bank of the River Foyle is a late-Georgian, stately manor house with a Victorian Italianate addition and a walled garden, which, through its portals has witnessed a fascinating mix of residents and visitors in its lifetime - including the legendary author William Makepeace Thackeray. This is the fascinating story of the residents of St Columb's House spanning over 250 years. The project was sponsored by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The launch at the House was a massive celebration involving descendants, historians, broadcasters and dozens of Waterside residents who use the facility as a thriving community hub. A small section of the large crowd in the St Columb's Park House ballroom for the launch Actors in period costume outside St Columb's Park House for the launch on January 15. Launch organisers, authors and guests, including: Grace Nelis (co-ordinator), Ken McCormack, Hazel Philson, Dee Jenkins, Sharon Doherty, Laura Adair and Garbhán Downey (Colmcille Press/Cló Cholmcille) The authors' interview with Mark Patterson on BBC Radio Foyle can be found here: The Belfast Telegraph review of the book is available here: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/new-book-explores-ni-buildings-links-to-saints-a-pm-and-the-famine-across-250-years-of-hidden-history/a861899298.html For copies of the book, please contact St Columb's Park House: 00 44 2871 343080.

Synopsis The independent lobby organisation, the Derry University Group, explains why the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy minister Conor Murphy will find it extremely difficult to increase student numbers in the North West and restore regional economic balance, if he signs off on the December 2024 Magee expansion plan in its current form. A series of recommendations and solutions is offered, including: the introduction of top-level independent oversight, directly accountable to the Irish and British governments; a new North-South body to assist Magee expansion and harmonise all-island education strategy; academic and operational autonomy for Magee; and a lowering/waiving of fees for Magee students until a minimum total of 10,000 full-time students can be sustained. Introduction Minister Murphy has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to right a historic wrong and resolve one of Ireland’s longest-standing civil rights issues. In the absence of an independent oversight commission for Higher Education in Northern Ireland, such as exists everywhere else on these islands (and which has twice been recommended by the island’s leading experts in the Royal Irish Academy), the Derry University Group is asking the Minister to consider ten key questions which an independent scrutiny body would be asking about the latest Magee expansion plan. QI. Why is there no independent oversight?  ‘Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it’  An independent oversight group would challenge the Taskforce’s contention that it has no desire to look at past political events ‘to determine what is optimal for now’ (P76). While it would require a full public inquiry, and we would argue that one may still be necessary, to establish the full scale of political discrimination against Derry’s university sector since Lockwood, this is not the Taskforce’s remit.  The Taskforce is, however, specifically charged with delivering Magee expansion in the current political environment. Thus, its decision not to consider how the current political environment has been consistently preventing, restricting or delaying expansion over the past two decades, is a fatal error. The Taskforce’s failure to investigate ongoing process failures - or to establish independent scrutiny of the departments and agencies responsible for these ongoing process failures - dooms it to repeat those failures.  Since 2005, there have been at least four expansion plans for Magee, none of which has delivered on its commitments to the campus. In each case either Ulster University, the Department for the Economy, or another Stormont department has ensured that Belfast’s priorities must be met first and the Derry plan has been ignored, buried or targeted for failure. These include:  2006 – University of Ulster: A Seven-Year Review, 1998-2005 . Chaired by Sir Graeme Davis, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, this was an external report which advocated growth in Magee, to act as a focal point for regeneration in Northern Ireland’s second city. It specifically warned UU against ‘overtrading’ at its other campuses. Within two years, UU had jettisoned the Davis Report and had begun aggressively ‘overtrading’ in Belfast, a move which was not dictated by either economic demand or necessity, nor by any academic justification. 2011 - The One Plan was actioned by the Office of the First Minster and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) and the Department of Social Development. A regional development plan for Derry managed by the urban regeneration company Ilex, it promised to deliver - and was predicated on achieving - 9,400 full-time students at Magee by 2020. Despite being billed as a landmark project and being mentioned in the Programme for Government, it failed to get any meaningful support from the NI Executive and petered out in 2015/6, eclipsed again by UU’s North Belfast development. Its failure to deliver 9,400 full-time students at Magee by 2020 is meticulously chronicled in Garrett Hargan’s investigative history of the university saga, A Scandal in Plain Sight (Colmcille Press).  2016 - The Magee Expansion Taskforce plan was drawn up by Ulster University and Derry City & Strabane District Council. It promised an expanded Magee campus, which would see full-time student numbers rise to 9,400 by 2024. It was never adopted into the NI Executive’s  Programme for Government as the new UU Belfast campus was in serious financial trouble and took precedence. It was all but dead and forgotten within a year. It too did not deliver on its objective of 9,400 full-time students at Magee by 2024 2020 - New Decade New Approach . Often referred to as the New Decade New Deal agreement, it was published on January 9, 2020 by the British and Irish governments and promised 10,000 full-time students at Magee by 2030. Within one month, the Department for the Economy had given UU a £126 million bailout (since increased) to save its new campus in North Belfast from bankruptcy and told Derry representatives there was no funding left to develop Magee. It was recently confirmed (Belfast Telegraph 19/10/24) that UU still have to pay off £159m of a £174.3m loan to the Strategic Investment Board.  Recommendation:  The lack of independent oversight of the development of UU’s North Belfast campus proved to be a cardinal error which nearly bankrupted the university and caused generational repercussions for the NI Higher Education sector.  The Royal Irish Academy has twice now (2021, 2024) recommended an independent scrutiny   commission  to oversee the Higher Education sector in Northern Ireland, such as exists elsewhere in the islands. We believe this will assist both the Minister, who UU has stated is ‘on the hook’ to deliver Magee expansion, and the HE sector. It will manage the Magee expansion oversight, by overseeing the work of the Expansion Steering Group and by advising the Minister directly.  Furthermore, given the specific input of the Irish (€44.5m) and British governments in legislating for, and financing, Magee expansion as part of New Decade New Deal, it is remiss to exclude them from a principal oversight role. With specific regard to Magee, the governments must each be asked to nominate independent and reputable  oversight commissioners (or Czars) with executive powers to direct and expedite the work of the Steering Group. They, along with the Minister, will have specific authority for the completion of the expansion, independent of internal political or departmental challenges and changes.  While they will remain essential contributors, neither the Strategic Investment Board nor the Department for the Economy can provide independent oversight of the Steering Group because of their conflicting interests and competing priorities. QII. What happens if deadlines are not met?  The Taskforce report is predicated on the unchallenged assumption (P11) that it will ‘realistically’ take at least eight years to deliver ten thousand students at Magee i.e. 2032 ‘if progress is sustained at an optimal pace’.  Every previous deadline set for Magee expansion has been missed. In New Decade New Deal the two governments, and Stormont, committed to providing 10,000 full-time s tudents by 2030. Recommendation:  In the event that Magee does not have its guaranteed 10,000 full-time students in situ by 2030 , UU will transfer any shortfall from its other campuses to the Derry campus, along with the necessary budgets, courses, faculties and departments to sustain these numbers. Going forward, UU will not be permitted to recruit any students to its other campuses until Magee’s numbers, guaranteed at a minimum of 10000 full-time, are first filled.  An autonomous operational management team will be established to oversee Magee to ensure the campus’s operational independence in the face of UU/DfE conflicting interests and competing priorities.  QIII. How to ensure Magee remains on the cross-border development agenda?  Shared Island has contributed €44.5m towards development at Magee and yet has no representation on the expansion Taskforce nor any of the proposed new bodies.  Recommendation:  Magee expansion, as an integral part of the regeneration of the cross-border North West City Region, must be included by the Irish government in its updated National Development Plan 2040.  Shared Island will be asked to become a full member of the Expansion Steering Group and will be asked to advise the independent Oversight Czars and all relevant supervisory and planning bodies. QIV. How to ensure the student numbers stipulated by UU are accurate?  The success of the expansion plan is predicated on securing 10,000 students at Magee by 2030. In its costings, the Taskforce has indicated (p29) what it will cost to grow student numbers from 5,700 to 10,000 by 2032.  The baseline figure of 5,700 is widely disputed as being considerably higher than the real figure and has been the subject of repeated Freedom of Information (FoI) requests from journalists attempting to ascertain the exact number of students attached to the campus. There is a responsibility to the public purse to establish an accurate baseline of existing figures before finance is released. Within the past five years, UU has itself variously claimed on official documents to have 9,000 students  at its Magee campus, and that there are  40,000 students  in the North West. In short, their figures have little or no credibility.  Moreover, there is no mention of full-time or ‘full-time equivalent’ figures in the Taskforce’s targets, despite the governments’ commitment to have 10,000  full-time  students in place by 2030.  Recommendation:   An external audit will be conducted immediately, under the supervision of the independent Oversight Czars, to ascertain the official number of full-time students  currently attending Magee. This number will exclude all part-time students, online students, students on work placement, and students registered full-time at other institutions whose courses may have affiliations with UU (and have previously been included in the UU tallies). It will also exclude students who, while principally registered at Magee, are required to study at other UU campuses, online or at other locations.  The Taskforce will specify that its commitment to Magee is to secure  10,000 full-time students   by 2030  and that its figures will be independently audited by the Oversight Czars on an annual basis.  UU and DfE will engage with and reply to any FoI requests regarding student numbers at any UU campus. QV. How to ensure Magee can grow numbers rapidly and sustainably?  The Taskforce’s report is more than 120 pages long, and seeks to commit hundreds of millions of pounds to campus and student accommodation infrastructure. But just ten pages are focused on academic development at the campus. A prospectus is being developed for private sector developers, yet no prospectus is proposed for prospective students.  Rather than Magee having a full suite of academic courses, such as are on offer at Queens or any of the National University of Ireland constituent universities in the South, it is only permitted to offer a limited subsection of UU’s wide curriculum. It is a subordinate subset rather than a federated equal. More than 140 courses were cut at Magee campus between 2010 and 2015, many moved to other campuses.  Moreover, Magee’s academic offer remains controlled centrally by UU, which has conflicting interests and competing priorities. Despite acknowledging the institutional inequality and political discrimination which blocked the expansion of Magee and led to the rapid growth of Coleraine and North Belfast, the Taskforce is not recommending the downsizing of other UU campuses. No costings are being proposed for academic development at Magee.  Recommendation:  All fees for EU/UK students studying at Magee will be reduced significantly relative to Belfast, or waived completely, and students will be able to access an increased student support package, until the campus can sustain 10,000 full-time places. Fees at Magee can at no stage be higher than those of its closest university neighbour Atlantic Technological University, which has a campus in Letterkenny, less than half an hour away. Magee will remain protected from any new NI university funding models, such as increased fees. An autonomous academic management team, with support from the Royal Irish Academy and Derry/Strabane and Donegal councils, and under the supervision of the independent Oversight Czars, will be established to ensure Magee’s academic independence and ensure it remains unrestricted by UU’s conflicting interests and competing priorities.  A Director of Magee Academic Expansion will be appointed alongside the recently-appointed Director of Magee Operational Expansion.  Magee will develop its own full prospectus, including a range of joint cross-border programmes in association with the Atlantic Technological University and other HE providers and will explore affiliation to the NUI as an autonomous constituent institution or be developed as an autonomous cross-border university of the North West. QVI. Is Derry/Strabane Council to become subordinate to the Magee ‘masterplan’? Derry/Strabane Council, via the City Deal, will become one of the principal investors in Magee expansion.  UU, on countless previous occasions, has broken commitments to the Council, which has always regarded Magee as the lynchpin of its regional development strategy. The Taskforce plan envisages Derry/Strabane Council gifting its substantial office block on the riverbank to UU for development. The proposed new Magee sports dome will also have a displacement impact on the Council’s own sports complex at Templemore, less than a mile away.  Council is also being tasked with a massive planning responsibility as UU seeks to build thousands of units of new student accommodation. The planning legislation, which governs development, must be respected and complied with. Council is missing an opportunity to best serve the public interest by allowing student accommodation to remain the preserve of private developers. There are considerable, generational revenue-raising benefits to be accrued via the public sector ownership of student accommodation. Council will also be tasked with ensuring that private developers are subject to transparency, accountability and scrutiny.   Residents in the university area have made representations to Council that it is already exceeding the agreed quota of inner-city HMOs. Residents have already been adversely and severely impacted by the overdevelopment and intensification of HMOs in the Magee Conservation Area adjacent to the university. Residential parking is at crisis levels.  The Taskforce plan does not specify how Magee will cater for the parking needs of 10,000 full-time students - and it is suggested that this will fall to the Council.  A new cross-border multi-site campus, as advocated by the University of Edinburgh School of Architecture (A Scandal in Plain Sight, Hargan, Colmcille Press 2024), would help alleviate overdevelopment and parking issues. Page 34 of the Taskforce report states that detail on the wider development projects being brought forward across the city ‘should be integrated with the Magee masterplan’ to provide a city development programme.  Recommendation:  Derry/Strabane Council representatives will sit on the Steering Group and all internal Magee development committees. Representatives will also be full partners on the autonomous Magee operational management team, and the autonomous Magee academic management team. Council shall receive direct additional support from DfE and the two governments to support its new responsibilities. Council shall investigate becoming a student accommodation provider and how to involve and support other public sector providers.  Council shall identify new student accommodation sites outside of residential city-centre areas and prioritise these developments over city-centre HMOs.  Council shall implement its existing 2032 Local Development Plan without further delay and with vigour. Council shall seek for the Magee expansion to be incorporated into the island’s National Development Plan 2040. QVII. Why is Stranmillis undertaking research on what would attract students to Derry?  DfE, apparently without open tender, has appointed Stranmillis College in Belfast to undertake research to identify ‘evidence-based incentives’ which would attract students to Magee. Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Letterkenny and the smaller university towns in the South are all skilled at attracting students, so much so they are experiencing surges in student numbers and accommodation problems. Why were they not considered for this assignment? Recommendation:  Research to be conducted across the island to identify ‘evidence-based incentives’ to attract students to Magee. QVIII. Is INCORE to be headquartered at Magee?  UU’s strategy for course development has been described by academics as one of ‘incubate, replicate and eradicate’. To wit, over the past two decades, numerous courses have been developed and tested at Magee before being rolled out on UU’s other campuses and then cut from the schedules at Magee.  In 2017, INCORE, a uniquely Derry institution, founded and based in the city and championed by Nobel laureate John Hume, was, without consultation, moved out of the city to Belfast, sparking political fallout and front-page headlines in newspapers. UU, after years of internal and external lobbying, has now announced a number of new INCORE courses will return to Magee. UU has, however, indicated that it intends to retain INCORE faculty and staff in Belfast despite QUB having established a strong programme of teaching and research in peace-related areas. UU is providing duplication in this area in Belfast while neglecting its historic, established niche in this area at Magee with the support of Bill and Hilary Clinton, Tip O’Neill, Kofi Annan and others.  Recommendation:  UU returns INCORE in its entirety - budgets, programmes and staff - to Derry.  QIX. Is Magee over-dependent on the Department of Health?  DoH commissioned courses (P48) are expected to constitute 30% of the additional student places needed to reach the target of 10,000 full-time students at Magee. Previous health ministers have threatened to block funding and places at Magee.  In its risk register (P123), the Taskforce has identified ‘change of political priorities’ as a ‘Critical’ risk noting the ‘different political aspirations’ of the Stormont Executive parties. Up until the current Minister’s appointment in 2024, the DfE has not prioritised Magee expansion in a meaningful way.  Recommendation:  The Magee expansion cannot be dependent on Stormont. The two governments, via the independent Oversight Czars, will, along with the sitting Minister, have specific authority for the completion of the expansion, independent of internal political or departmental challenges and changes.  QX. Has there been adequate Taskforce engagement with the Irish government?  One of the most striking aspects of the report is the lack of input from the Southern government and the limited ambition for North-South collaboration at a campus which is located within a few miles of the North-South border. Indeed the lack of emphasis on parallel developments south of the border and their impact on and opportunities for Magee are noteworthy in what is a NI-centric report.  The Shared Island funding (€44.5m) - the biggest single injection in Magee in a decade - has been noted and has been widely celebrated as a victory by UU, but without any suggestion as to how UU will account to the funders or take due account of the wider all-island context. There will have to be safeguards in place to ensure this funding is spent in its entirety at Magee. Furthermore, if this investment is not to be a one-off, it will necessitate high levels of transparency, accountability and scrutiny. There are no Irish representatives on the Steering Group nor the committees, despite the fact that the Taskforce says it hopes to approach the Irish government for further funding in the coming years.  The two ground-breaking reports by the Royal Irish Academy on northwest Ireland, the second of which was funded by the Shared Island fund and informed so much recent public discourse on Magee expansion, have been ignored entirely. The decision to exclude the RIA and other voices critical of past failures from the Taskforce allowed UU to ignore expert advice on Magee which conflicted with its own priorities and was a cardinal error.  Recommendation:  A new North-South body will be established under the Good Friday Agreement (the facilities to do this exist) to ensure Irish government oversight of all matters regarding Magee. This body will also collaborate on a broader strategy of harmonising education policy at all levels on an all-island basis. ENDS Published by the Derry University Group  December 20, 2024

Colmcille Press is delighted to announce that the first edition of Pat McArt's War, Peace and the Derry Journal has now sold out. But the good news is, a reprint has been commissioned and will be back from the printers by next week - well in time for the Christmas rush. The Donegal man's memoir, which received very favourable reviews in the Irish Times and the Irish News (see above and below), is the ideal present for the historian, news junkie or political nut in your life. You can also order the book from Colmcille Press directly for just £20 plus p&p.

Twenty years ago this week saw the launch of Garbhán Downey's debut novel, Private Diary of a Suspended MLA (Guildhall Press/Stormount Books), at a packed Bookworm. Guest speaker Eamonn McCann reviewed the night in Hot Press, commenting: 'What a classy turn-out! Criminals, patriots, trendsetters, typesetters, lawyers, mudlarks and gothic yahoos. Plus regular folks like Garbhán and me...' [A few signed first editions are still in the store but be quick.]

NOVELIST James Simpson’s ‘clever and subtle satire’ on Derry life, True Colours, has arrived hot off the printers and will have a series of launches across the North West this autumn. The first of these, in which Jim will be interviewed by the acclaimed author Sue Divin, will take place at Derry’s Central Library on Thursday September 12  (6pm for 6.30). This will be followed by an evening event at the Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre in Limavady on Thursday October 3 , (7pm for 7.30), where Jim will be in conversation with the award-winning writer Bernie McGill. On Wednesday October 16 , Jim will be interviewed by the broadcaster and playwright Felicity McCall at the U3A Foyle building in Gransha Park (7pm for 7.30). And on Wednesday November 6,  Jim will discuss his new novel with the Sion Mills memoir-writer and poet Maureen Boyle at Strabane Library (11am). True Colours, published by Colmcille Press, is the follow up to Jim’s 2021 short story collection Smokes and Birds, illustrated by the artist Bridget Murray, who also designed the covers for both books. A retired health board official, Jim has been living in Derry since the mid-1970s, with his wife Jen who ran Creggan Day Centre. In 2019, he graduated from the Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, with an MA in Creative Writing. He is currently working on a second, coming-of-age, novel.  True Colours recounts the larger-than-life career of the flamboyant Indigo Black, headteacher of the prestigious St Gobnait’s College, who switches direction to be elected as an independent City Councillor. This is not without its challenges.   ‘True Colours reads like a love note to Derry in a rainbow of ink,’ according to Edge Hill prizewinning author Bernie McGill. ‘It is written by a cast of illustrious characters whose pedigree might be traced back to Dickens with a detour via Flann O’Brien.’ True Colours is available from local bookshops and from colmcillepress.com , priced £13/€15. ENDS

August 12th 2024 'A Scandal in Plain Sight' author Garrett Hargan presented Colum Eastwood with his new book at the SDLP leader's Derry offices today. The Foyle MP said Hargan was 'a fearless advocate', who held government and universities to account, exhorting them deliver for the city-region. Mr Eastwood said: "We have to keep the fight going, and this book will be an important contribution. Derry has been held back for too long and we're not going to put up with it much longer."

August 9th, 2024 THERE was standing room only - and a standing ovation - at the launch of Garrett Hargan’s investigative history of the Derry university controversy,  'A Scandal in Plain Sight', at The Hive Studios in Ráth Mór. Author Hargan, whose day-job is North West Correspondent with the Belfast Telegraph, has been to the fore in exposing how chronic regional imbalance is damaging Derry’s struggling economy. He told the packed house: “If you remember nothing else about the book remember the question I pose on the back - how is Belfast still allowed to corral 83% of the North’s students and 95% of Higher Education capital funding? That in a nutshell is what this is about. Chronic, generational and deliberate regional inequality - and how do we identify it, stop it and reverse it. “If Labour wants to deliver long-term growth and stability in the North, it needs to look at regional imbalance. Even the Tories recognised that in their 2021 Levelling Up report recommending a new university for Derry. Small towns without universities have received more than Derry has over the past decade including Coleraine and Ballymena who got £110m between them while Derry got just £18m for Magee.” Hargan, whose grandfather Joe Baker marched in the original civil rights marches in Derry in the 1960s, said the blame could not be laid at the door of individual ministers.  “If there are no checks and balances at Stormont, if ministers can run rogue departments and discriminate against a city the size of Derry for this length of time then we also have to ask: What are Foyle MLAs doing about it?  Why have they not been shouting from the rooftops?  And is Stormont fit for purpose? “We have waited six decades too long. We’ve already lost countless young people who leave to study elsewhere and never come back. They should be contributing to an amazing city right here.  Or at the very least, have that option. And we should be able to provide a service for other young people from throughout the world who want to come and learn here.” Hargan told the large audience, which included the Mayor, local councillors, academics and university campaigners, that the solution to the crisis could be found in the two Royal Irish Academy reports. “I defer to academics at the Royal Irish Academy when it comes to a plan for the future.  After all, they are the specialists, the very best minds in Ireland when it comes to developing Higher Education. As Roy Keane would say, It’s their job. “They tell us there should be an independent scrutiny committee and independent oversight. Nobody should fear that.  There should be no reason that every party cannot commit to supporting independent oversight.   “It exists everywhere else, why not here where there are actually historic and ongoing concerns about the inequitable distribution of funds. And it is great to see this initiative has already been unanimously backed by our local Council - including by people in this room.  “The Royal Irish Academy has importantly recommended that a federal cross-border tertiary education institution be initiated involving existing campuses in the North West from Coleraine to Sligo - with Derry as the nucleus. They actually produced two separate reports on this - the second one this year with funding from the Shared Ireland Fund and the Irish Research Council. Belfast cannot manage Derry because of its competing priorities - and they warn that Derry will not achieve its potential until Belfast is removed from its current role of Lord and Master. This is a golden opportunity to reset.”  The event was chaired by Ráth Mór General manager Kevin Hippsley, Ráth Mór General manager Kevin Hippsley, who commended Garrett Hargan for ‘his steadfast commitment’ to uncovering the truth in respect of the university throughout his career as a journalist here in the North West. “Through his dogged persistence – he has fought through the bureaucratic quagmire, challenged the gatekeepers, the bean counters and the “computer says no” people and revealed some truly damning and incontrovertible data, shining a light on a number of inconvenient and uncomfortable truths. “This publication succinctly collates Garret’s work and through external contributions from others, including Mr Pat McArt – one of our guest speakers today, provides a context for a new direction in the city’s 60-year campaign for a university. Garrett of course as a reporter has proved to be a key part of this ongoing and developing story – creating a platform and vehicle for increasing transparency and promoting awareness of the issue.” Speaking on her first official visit to Ráth Mór, Mayor Seenoi-Bar also paid tribute to Hargan’s dedication. And she stressed the necessity of developing the region’s higher education sector and correcting the chronic regional imbalance in the North. She said: “The death of John Hume four years ago this week in 2020 reminded the world of his immense contribution to the international civil rights movement - a journey that began in a campaign for a university. He was the first chairperson of the University for Derry Group in 1963 - and it is his footsteps we are still walking in today. “There’s a Greek proverb that states: ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.’ And that is exactly what John did. He planted trees. Through dark times and war, and in better times and peace, he resolutely reminded us of the importance of education - and how education, more than anything, is the cornerstone of a just, healthy, happy - and multicultural and inclusive - society. The trees John planted are starting to grow. And the North West will never forget him for that.” Guest speaker on the night was the Donegal-born former Derry Journal editor Pat McArt, described from the platform as ‘a one man cross-border institution’. He spoke about how the growth of the university sector in the South had led to massive renewal and regeneration. He said: “When I started in Letterkenny RTC [Regional Technical College] in 1971, there were perhaps a hundred people there - today it is a university campus as big as Derry’s - if not bigger, and it is growing all the time. A university is a cornerstone of a town or city - an essential requirement for growth. “I also take issue with Ulster University's suggestion that there are more than 5000 students at Magee. There certainly doesn’t seem to be - and university campaigners are certainly not accepting it. The only way to prove this is to establish a Universities Scrutiny Commission immediately, as recommended by the Royal Irish Academy. What are they frightened of?” Publisher Garbhán Downey of Colmcille Press, who is also a spokesperson for the Derry University Group, commended Garrett Hargan. He said: “Gone are the days when we can be dismissed as ‘dissenting voices’ - or ‘a couple of lunatics with a word processor’, as one critic dubbed us.  “It is hard to conceive that lobbying for something as fundamentally essential -  as fundamentally civic - as our own university could still draw such contempt and ire. “We are so fortunate to have a determined champion for our university here in this city in Garrett Hargan. He is, without a doubt, a rising star, an enduring star, and I have no doubt that our city and our region are so much the better for your work. Well done, Garrett, comhghairdeas leat - you have earned our deepest respect and gratitude.” ENDS

AN EXTERNAL review of the University of Ulster’s operations conducted 18 years ago, which recommended the continued expansion of the Magee campus and warned against ‘overtrading’ on other campuses, has been unearthed by researchers and sent to Colmcille Press, following the publication of Garrett Hargan’s investigative history ‘A Scandal in Plain Sight’. The full, three-volume report - which few people have ever seen - is not available from the UU website but will be made available from Colmcille Press. It shows that in the period 1998 to 2005, Magee’s full-time student numbers grew by a massive 65%, from 1754 to 2893 – a factor singled out as ‘a key achievement’ by the Review Committee, which was chaired by the eminent academic, the late Sir Graeme Davies. The Committee stated that ‘historical imbalances’ between campuses should continue to be addressed and priority given to student numbers and the range of courses at Magee: ‘In terms of future growth the University has firmly decided to accord priority to the further development of the Magee campus. ‘We support this strongly, not least in view of the University’s key role with other partners in the complex processes of regional economic and social regeneration. ‘...The University should continue to press the strong case for further strategic and targeted expansion at Magee, and we recommend that the DEL [Department of Education and Learning] should explore with the University how this objective might most effectively be achieved.’ The long-buried review warned UU against taking on too much and trying to be ‘all things to all men’. Instead, it recommended ‘consolidation’ in Coleraine and Jordanstown, ‘modest growth’ in Belfast but ‘a renewed priority for growth’ at Magee. It explained that there was now ‘a critical mass of disciplines’ at Magee that would provide a healthy basis for further growth. ‘We also note that there are now real prospects that the University will be able to augment its estate near Magee.  ‘The importance of a sizeable university base for the economic development of a sub-region has been well attested in numerous studies over the past quarter of a century. ‘Moreover, there is widespread support both in the University and among stakeholders in the North-West for further expansion at Magee.’ The Review Committee also backed plans for the ‘North-South’ medical school in the North West (which would take a further 15 years to open): ‘ The clear evidence of this review period is that the University has both the capacity and the determination to act as a focal point for economic regeneration in Northern Ireland’s second city and the surrounding area .’ Crucially, the 2006 report was never referenced by either the university or the civil service, or indeed by anyone else, during the discussions which began in 2007-2008 towards relocating Jordanstown to Belfast. This controversial move - which eventually saw UU open its new York Street campus in 2021 - appears to have been driven purely with a view towards profit; it was certainly not dictated by either economic demand or necessity - or by any academic justification. The outline business case in 2010 suggested that, because it was going to cost £70m-£75m to maintain Jordanstown over the next decade, if its lands were instead sold for £150m, then the university could effectively have £220m-£225m with which to build the new campus in Belfast. But of course the eventual cost to the university - and the taxpayer - has already been more than £400m.  In 2008, the University for Derry committee met with senior UU officials to discuss its blueprint to establish a city-centre base for an expanded third-level campus in the North West - but were specifically told a city-centre build was not ‘viable’. Many aspects of this blueprint were then adopted for the new North Belfast campus. Meanwhile, the proposal to expand Magee to 9400 full-time students, the centrepiece of Derry’s ‘One Plan’ in 2010, was dropped by the Stormont government in 2015, as neither UU nor Stormont had the capacity or resources to manage the competing Belfast and Derry priorities. And the decade 2010 to 2020 ended with yet another broken promise and no rise in Magee’s student numbers. [See main book].  Upon its inception in 1983-84, UU was mandated to have regular seven-year scrutiny reviews, but the 2006 one appears to have been the last. We could not find any record as to why they were discontinued. The North’s Higher Education supervisory committee, the HE Council, also wound up at around this time, effectively removing any oversight of UU’s operational performance. There has been no meaningful, external oversight of UU since that period. And the Royal Irish Academy has now twice called (2021 & 2024) for the establishment of a new Higher Education scrutiny committee for Northern Ireland. Interestingly, according to the review, Magee staff numbers were 495 in 2005, as against just 579 in 2023.

Journalist Garrett Hargan’s new book, A Scandal in Plain Sight, which investigates the 60-year refusal to set up a university in northwest Ireland, is to be launched in Creggan’s Ráth Mór Centre next month. Longtime Derry Journal editor Pat McArt, who has provided an epilogue for the book, will preside at the event, which will take place at the Hive Studios on August 9 at 6pm. Hargan’s research, which exposes massive regional inequality in the North’s university sector, has been used by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and others to support the case for a new, independent North West University.  His debut book revisits the scandalous decisions which denied a university to Derry and became the catalyst for the North’s civil rights movement in the 1960s. It also charts the failure of successive governments and university administrations to develop Magee over the decades since. And he explores how new proposals, developed by the RIA and the Shared Island Initiative, could at last deliver justice for Derry. Other contributors to the book include Derry academic Killian Ó Dochartaigh of the University of Edinburgh Architecture School, Amie Gallagher of the Focus Project, and the Derry University Group (DUG). DUG campaigner Conal McFeely commented: ‘This book features at its core the voices of four generations of Derry commentators, from the late, great Frank Curran [another former Derry Journal editor] to Hargan himself.  ‘All these voices tell the same abiding truth: the North West will flourish again as soon as it has its own university. It is time for us to build it.’ Publisher Garbhán Downey of Colmcille Press said: “While barely into his thirties, Garrett is very much an old-school investigative journalist; he is thorough, determined, principled and insightful - and will certainly go far. His work is already making an impact. This is a landmark book - one that should never have had to be written, but one which could not have had a better or more integrous author.” A Scandal in Plain Sight is available from the Colmcille Press website for £5, plus postage, and will be available from shops after the launch. The ebook can be purchased for £1. About the Author A former staff reporter with the Derry News, Garrett Hargan joined the Belfast Telegraph as its North West multimedia journalist in 2021. He previously studied at St Joseph’s Boys’ School Creggan, the North West Regional College and Queen’s University, Belfast. For interviews, contact Colmcille Press: 00 44 2871 616 055 or info@colmcillepress.com .