NI professor in 'bullying' claim

Professor Gerry McKenna denies the allegations

The University of Ulster's ex-vice chancellor "bullied and harrassed" staff and his work was "impaired by alcohol", a report has claimed.

The report into the investigation of Professor Gerry McKenna's work has been made public after a court injunction was lifted.

Former ombudsman Sir Michael Buckley said there was a prima facie case to answer on four main allegations.

Professor McKenna has strongly denied the accusations.

None of the allegations ever went to a disciplinary tribunal.

The chairman of the university's ruling body, Dr Gerry Burns, who commissioned the report, said it was time to put the affair behind them.

"We have reached the stage where the vice chancellor will be finished, in so far as his position is concerned, by the end of this month and we will be moving into a whole new situation.

"We will have, in my view, introduced a whole new process in relation to governance and management," Dr Burns said.

Sir Michael Buckley's report looked into a number of allegations by whistleblowers.

The BBC has a copy of the report, details of which have also been published in the Belfast Telegraph. On Thursday, the newspaper successfully applied to have the injunction lifted.

Sir Michael took evidence from a number of people who said Professor McKenna's performance had, on occasions, been "significantly impaired by the consumption of alcohol".

'Medical condition'

One of these occasions was at a meeting with former education minister Barry Gardiner, it was alleged.

Professor McKenna has rejected any allegation that he conducted university business while "being the worse for alcohol". He said his behaviour was "due to a medical condition".

On bullying and harassment, Sir Michael said he had spoken to a number of staff who said they had "witnessed that sort of behaviour".

Sir Michael also looked at financial issues and said there was a case to answer, particularly on the awarding of work to consultancy firms, without any competitive selection process.

In his conclusion, the former senior civil servant said Professor McKenna became increasingly "dogmatic, irritable and arrogant" from the spring of 2004.

In a lengthy document to the university council, Professor McKenna denied many of the accusations.

He has now left his job as vice chancellor but will return to the less influential role of university president. He will hold that post for one year until he retires.