So, thanks to Pearse Doherty ( although sent on 6 Nov this seems to have only hit my mailbox now…) we now have a clarity on the reduction in staffing from the top levels of Irish universities. In particular, TCD and Maynooth and Limerick …..
In response to a question he obtained from the Dept Education the following information.
So of the 67 professors who have left some 40 have been replaced, a cut of 40% ; of the 20 Associate Professors some 14 have been replaced at lower levels.
What is interesting is the university by university variation : 100% of posts lost in UCD have been replaced while 0% of Maynooth is replaced. Of course there are I am sure discipline specific variations here which need to be surfaced, but it does prompt questions. In particular, why is only 1 out of 15 TCD professors replaced ? In every metric TCD is a leading university in Ireland, and this seems to be destroying the seedcorn.
Brian M. Lucey 
Could the answer to your question lie in some more absolute measure of productivity? (eg. student/teacher ratio to be very simplistic) If not, perhaps it should be? Why should an institution that has been running a tight ship for years be subjected to the same cuts as one who is not as lean?
you think UCD is a tight ship?
“you think UCD is a tight ship?” – I’ve no idea! But what might be more interesting is: does anybody know?
Under the ECF the ratios between grades are fixed. So if you want to allow internal promotion, retirees at the top will have to be replaced by new entrants at the bottom, right?
think that that was changed ; its also not evident here.
Pingback: Downgrading Irish University Libraries | Brian M. Lucey
Pingback: Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Hollowing Out