Leaks from Trinity College board meetings have caused ‘personal distress’ to members

The chair of the board of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has told colleagues that breaches of confidentiality have caused “considerable personal distress” to board members during recent events.

Paul Farrell made his comments at the May meeting of the TCD board where members pulled back from introducing new sanctions against those found “leaking” details of discussions from board meetings.

In newly published minutes of the May 22nd board meeting, Mr Farrell said that such sanctions “would provide a mechanism to deal with egregious misbehaviour by board members”.

The board meeting took place days after college students ended their five-day protest camp at TCD over the war in Gaza after the university agreed to the demands of the protesting students.

During the “confidentiality breach” discussion, one member stated that the timing of introducing sanctions “so soon after recent events could be viewed negatively by the public”, even though the decision had been taken by the board in…