Dr Michael Murphy, president of UCC, tells us that the heads of Irish universities "are as challenged at paying their bills as anyone else" according to a report by Niamh Horan in the Irish Independent. Dr Murphy is paid €232,000 per year, yes - that's over €19,000 per month, or about €4,400 per week, or almost €900 PER DAY! Nice money if you can get it, and Dr Murphy certainly is getting it.
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| Dr Michael Murphy. Image source: Irish Universities Association. |
Why does an intelligent person like Dr Murphy feel the need to spout this shite? Why does he feel the need to elicit pity from the average Irish citizen for his desperate financial situation? He is quoted in Horan's article as saying:
"Contrary to popular opinion, I do not have a house or a car provided by the university. But I do know that a university in Britain last year advertised the post of vice-chancellor (for a university) the same size as UCC, (which is) behind us in rankings, and if I had applied for it I would have doubled my salary, got a house and the use of a Jaguar".
Seems to me like a no-brainer decision to make? If you are finding it so hard to pay the bills, why not feck off to the money bags university and drive the Jag around campus?
By doing this Dr Murphy insults every taxpayer (who pays his salary) in Ireland, and the hundreds of thousands of working people who are genuinely "struggling" on a fraction of what he earns. He also insults his academic colleagues - most who earn a lot less than what he does. Sure - academic positions are well paid in Ireland, but telling us that he is as "challenged" at paying his bills as anyone else is just galling to hear.
Get real - there are probably well over 4,000,000 people in this country with a population of 4,500,000 who would gladly like to have a go at paying their bills on €900/day. Stop this Sean-Bhean bhocht "poor me" nonsense - PLEASE!
UCC's current advertising line is "Great minds don't think alike". Mick is living the brand.
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