Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe is to order a report into the construction of a €1.1 million luxury residence for the University of Limerick president.
The Minister said today the building of the five-bedroom house seemed "lavish" given the current economic circumstances.
The university, which has debts of about €3 million has stressed that no taxpayers money is being spent on the residence which will house Prof Don Barry. It also said the building will be used as a venue for public events and accommodation for visitors to the campus.
"Obviously at a time of stringent financial constraints one would always ask people in authority to exercise restraint. It sounds lavish," said Mr O'Keefe on RTÉ radio.
Fine Gael's education spokesman Brian Hayes also criticised the decision to invest funds on the building during a recession.
"The case in Limerick is quite extraordinary given the fact that the college itself is in a deficit position and is as I understand it in this position for some years," he said.
"The country has changed because of the crisis we are in and those in positions of responsibility have got to come up to the mark and show some restraint," Mr Hayes added.
However, the University of Limerick defended its decision to build the residence.
"This project is being entirely funded with philanthropic donations we've received. The donors specifically gave it (the funds) for this purpose," said Eamon Cregan, director of corporate affairs, University of Limerick.
"This is private money applied for a public purpose. It is a building on campus which the university will have at its disposal for a wide range of public events and campus functions as well as obviously providing residence for the president. There are similar buildings at other facilities such as Trinity and other colleges and is in line with what happens at the best of international universities," he added.
The Minister for Education also stressed yesterday that third-level institutions cannot charge in excess of the cost of services being provided.
His comments came a day after the heads of the State's main universities admitted that the student registration charge is being used to fund core services such as libraries and is essentially a "fee".
In a letter to the Joint Oireachtas Education Committee earlier this week the seven university student union presidents said the €1,500 registration charge is used for a wide range of services.
The registration charge was originally established to fund examinations, registration and student services after third level fees were abolished in 1995.
