ECF published

Via Ferdinand's website, the HEA have now officially published the ECF on their website. It is even a pdf document so this must mean that it is now official. It is amazing in a context where Irish leaders would rather die than give an inch on the Corporation Tax rate (a perhaps legitimate stance) that we have now completely voluntarily made it practically impossible for Irish universities to compete for external research grants in international competitions all with a simple stroke of a pen (or click of a pdf converter). I accept the view that those of us who are horrified by this need to do more than just express horror and actually come back with some alternatives but, having said that, noone really expects something like this. Its not as if we have documents ready to produce in the event that a Minister arrives one day with a can of petrol and threatens to burn down the college unless we can convince him, using sound economic arguments, why this would be a bad idea. I would ask that any IMF desk researcher that stumbles across this blog click on the clarifications and FAQs published by the HEA because, apparently, this is being rolled out to appease you guys. Not exactly the type of policy one would have traditionally associated with the IMF but these are interesting times.