Further details are reported today in the Sunday newspapers about the incident which led to the conviction of Niall McElwee in Amsterdam in 2005. The court reports are not pleasant reading.

As reported on this blog yesterday evening, complaints about McElwee’s career progression made to the Minister of Education are also covered in today’s papers. I have received other information on concerns regarding the appointment of Dr. McElwee and his conduct in WIT which will no doubt be covered by the media in the next week. If the people concerned are contacting bloggers, they are surely on the phone to Talbot Street. As I thought on Thursday night when I first posted on the matter this story has legs. At least as many as a spider… Why the HSE in Athlone didn’t tell AIT about what happened in Amsterdam are the least of the issues involved. The terms of reference of the investigation will probably be very limited.

Bernie Goldbach in the comments on the previous post raises an interesting issue on the vetting of candidates at third level – beyond the Garda vetting issue.

Don’t you think vetting for all Irish public jobs is a little lax? In my experience with two different third level institutions, unless the management directs the work, few CVs get fact-checked prior to interview panels. And that soft touch seems to apply to directorships of high level Irish boards as well.

I think that fact checking of CV’s is not something that will tell you much about why a candidate is leaving an institution, or what her students thought of her, or of the incidents if any and employment record of an applicant. Having watched the appointment of some lecturers at third level, it is the number of publications, media and subject level profile and appointments and awards and now above all else – research grant money potential – which will impress an interview board and hiring department. It is interesting that the initial coverage of the McElwee resignation and circumstances surrounding it focussed on the number of publications and profile of the academic – something that I admit I did myself.

With the needs of the student slipping further down the ladder of importance in third level colleges in Ireland I doubt appraisals and other information about quality of teaching, supervision and pastoral care are going to become a regular feature of appointment processes. Team working and support of junior colleagues is also something not valued in the ranking procedure.

It is here that some of the differences between men and women’s academic careers become obvious, glass ceiling issues are raised and the fast tracking of candidates who have more prolific CV’s – what I heard at an academic conference once as the the ‘quantity rather than quality/jobs for the boys syndrome’.