August 9th, 2024
THERE was standing room only - and a standing ovation - at the launch of Garrett Hargan’s investigative history of the Derry university controversy, 'A Scandal in Plain Sight', at The Hive Studios in Ráth Mór.
Author Hargan, whose day-job is North West Correspondent with the Belfast Telegraph, has been to the fore in exposing how chronic regional imbalance is damaging Derry’s struggling economy.
He told the packed house: “If you remember nothing else about the book remember the question I pose on the back - how is Belfast still allowed to corral 83% of the North’s students and 95% of Higher Education capital funding? That in a nutshell is what this is about. Chronic, generational and deliberate regional inequality - and how do we identify it, stop it and reverse it.
“If Labour wants to deliver long-term growth and stability in the North, it needs to look at regional imbalance. Even the Tories recognised that in their 2021 Levelling Up report recommending a new university for Derry. Small towns without universities have received more than Derry has over the past decade including Coleraine and Ballymena who got £110m between them while Derry got just £18m for Magee.”
Hargan, whose grandfather Joe Baker marched in the original civil rights marches in Derry in the 1960s, said the blame could not be laid at the door of individual ministers.
“If there are no checks and balances at Stormont, if ministers can run rogue departments and discriminate against a city the size of Derry for this length of time then we also have to ask: What are Foyle MLAs doing about it? Why have they not been shouting from the rooftops? And is Stormont fit for purpose?
“We have waited six decades too long. We’ve already lost countless young people who leave to study elsewhere and never come back. They should be contributing to an amazing city right here. Or at the very least, have that option. And we should be able to provide a service for other young people from throughout the world who want to come and learn here.”
Hargan told the large audience, which included the Mayor, local councillors, academics and university campaigners, that the solution to the crisis could be found in the two Royal Irish Academy reports.
“I defer to academics at the Royal Irish Academy when it comes to a plan for the future. After all, they are the specialists, the very best minds in Ireland when it comes to developing Higher Education. As Roy Keane would say, It’s their job.
“They tell us there should be an independent scrutiny committee and independent oversight.
Nobody should fear that. There should be no reason that every party cannot commit to supporting independent oversight.
“It exists everywhere else, why not here where there are actually historic and ongoing concerns about the inequitable distribution of funds. And it is great to see this initiative has already been unanimously backed by our local Council - including by people in this room.
“The Royal Irish Academy has importantly recommended that a federal cross-border tertiary education institution be initiated involving existing campuses in the North West from Coleraine to Sligo - with Derry as the nucleus. They actually produced two separate reports on this - the second one this year with funding from the Shared Ireland Fund and the Irish Research Council. Belfast cannot manage Derry because of its competing priorities - and they warn that Derry will not achieve its potential until Belfast is removed from its current role of Lord and Master. This is a golden opportunity to reset.”
The event was chaired by Ráth Mór General manager Kevin Hippsley, Ráth Mór General manager Kevin Hippsley, who commended Garrett Hargan for ‘his steadfast commitment’ to uncovering the truth in respect of the university throughout his career as a journalist here in the North West.
“Through his dogged persistence – he has fought through the bureaucratic quagmire, challenged the gatekeepers, the bean counters and the “computer says no” people and revealed some truly damning and incontrovertible data, shining a light on a number of inconvenient and uncomfortable truths.
“This publication succinctly collates Garret’s work and through external contributions from others, including Mr Pat McArt – one of our guest speakers today, provides a context for a
new direction in the city’s 60-year campaign for a university. Garrett of course as a reporter has proved to be a key part of this ongoing and developing story – creating a platform and vehicle for increasing transparency and promoting awareness of the issue.”
Speaking on her first official visit to Ráth Mór, Mayor Seenoi-Bar also paid tribute to Hargan’s dedication. And she stressed the necessity of developing the region’s higher education sector and correcting the chronic regional imbalance in the North.
She said: “The death of John Hume four years ago this week in 2020 reminded the world of his immense contribution to the international civil rights movement - a journey that began in a campaign for a university. He was the first chairperson of the University for Derry Group in 1963 - and it is his footsteps we are still walking in today.
“There’s a Greek proverb that states: ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.’ And that is exactly what John did. He planted trees. Through dark times and war, and in better times and peace, he resolutely reminded us of the importance of education - and how education, more than anything, is the cornerstone of a just, healthy, happy - and multicultural and inclusive - society. The trees John planted are starting to grow. And the North West will never forget him for that.”
Guest speaker on the night was the Donegal-born former Derry Journal editor Pat McArt, described from the platform as ‘a one man cross-border institution’. He spoke about how the growth of the university sector in the South had led to massive renewal and regeneration.
He said: “When I started in Letterkenny RTC [Regional Technical College] in 1971, there were perhaps a hundred people there - today it is a university campus as big as Derry’s - if not bigger, and it is growing all the time. A university is a cornerstone of a town or city - an essential requirement for growth.
“I also take issue with Ulster University's suggestion that there are more than 5000 students at Magee. There certainly doesn’t seem to be - and university campaigners are certainly not accepting it. The only way to prove this is to establish a Universities Scrutiny Commission immediately, as recommended by the Royal Irish Academy. What are they frightened of?”
Publisher Garbhán Downey of Colmcille Press, who is also a spokesperson for the Derry University Group, commended Garrett Hargan.
He said: “Gone are the days when we can be dismissed as ‘dissenting voices’ - or ‘a couple of lunatics with a word processor’, as one critic dubbed us.
“It is hard to conceive that lobbying for something as fundamentally essential - as fundamentally civic - as our own university could still draw such contempt and ire.
“We are so fortunate to have a determined champion for our university here in this city in Garrett Hargan. He is, without a doubt, a rising star, an enduring star, and I have no doubt that our city and our region are so much the better for your work. Well done, Garrett, comhghairdeas leat - you have earned our deepest respect and gratitude.”
ENDS