Embattled UCC president Gerry Wrixon has secured a four-year extension to his post, despite vigorous opposition from many academics in the college.
Yesterday the Government agreed to sanction the extension that will allow Prof Wrixon to serve a full 10-year term as president until 2009.
Prof Wrixon, who is 65 today, has secured the extension despite concerns in some quarters that this might have a knock-on effect across the public service.
It is widely expected that the extension for the president will provoke a raft of legal actions. Already some UCC academics have hinted they will also seek an extension of service on equality grounds.
In granting an extension, the Government has accepted a recommendation from the Higher Education Authority (HEA). Both the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin and the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen backed the move.
Prof Wrixon's tenure at UCC has been successful in many respects. The college has managed to eclipse both UCD and Trinity when it comes to securing research funding. It has also managed to buck the general trend by attracting increasing number of undergraduate applicants every year.
But the Wrixon era has been overshadowed by bitter internal feuding. The president's management style is resented by several senior figures in the college.
Questions have also been raised about the college's accumulated debt of over €40 million. Several property transactions have also been questioned.
In education circles, an extension for the president has long been seen as inevitable, despite the controversy which surrounds him. With his "pro-business " outlook and his reforming zeal, Prof Wrixon supports the kind of third-level reform the Government favours.
Recently Ms Hanafin announced plans for a reform fund that will essentially reward third-level colleges for cutting costs and making better use of resources.
Education sources say a failure to grant the extension would have been seized upon by the many opponents of similar reforms in UCD, Trinity and elsewhere.
But it seems unlikely the extension will kill off the Wrixon controversy. Aside from possible legal actions, his opponents in the college are running a concerted media campaign.
