Universities Act, 1997

Chapter VIII

Finance, Property and Reporting

Budgets.

37.—(1) A governing authority shall, on or before the 1st day of March in each financial year or such other date as An tÚdarás may approve (which may be a date before the commencement of the financial year to which the statement relates), prepare and submit to An tÚdarás, in such form and manner as may from time to time be approved by An tÚdarás, a statement of the proposed expenditure and expected income of the university for the financial year.

(2) An tÚdarás shall, having regard to the statement and after consultation with the governing authority of a university, determine the amount of money to be allocated to the university for the financial year from moneys provided to An tÚdarás pursuant to section 12 of the Higher Education Authority Act, 1971 , and the amount so allocated, together with the other expected income of the university as agreed with An tÚdarás, shall be the budget of the university for the financial year.

(3) When the budget of a university has been determined, it shall be a function of the chief officer, acting on the authority of the governing authority, to carry it into effect.

(4) An tÚdarás may at any time, on application made to it by the governing authority of a university, increase the amount of money to be allocated to the university from moneys provided to An tÚdarás.

(5) Where the chief officer of a university is of the opinion that a proposed course of action of the governing authority will or is likely to result in expenditure in excess of the budget which has not been increased in accordance with subsection (4), (in this section referred to as a “material departure from the budget”) the chief officer shall so inform the governing authority.

(6) Where a governing authority, despite being informed as required by subsection (5), decides to proceed with its course of action, the chief officer shall, unless satisfied that a material departure from the budget will not occur, as soon as practicable, inform An tÚdarás of the decision of the governing authority.

(7) Where, notwithstanding this section, a university incurs expenditure in excess of its budget which is not met from the income of the university other than the money allocated to it by An tÚdarás, that excess shall be a first charge on the budget for the next succeeding financial year.