The provost of Trinity College Dublin, Dr John Hegarty, is facing renewed resistance to his proposed restructuring of the college, after a large majority of staff responding to a survey indicated that they do not support his plans.
Seventy-nine per cent of the 181 staff who responded to the survey said the proposals were not in the best interests of the college.
The survey, conducted last week by the Trinity branch of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, also reveals that 82 per cent do not feel there has been adequate consultation with college staff, while 71 per cent say they do not feel they are acceptable with regard to their terms and conditions of employment.
In a statement to The Irish Times, the federation said the results confirmed "widespread informal reports that while many meetings have been held with various constituencies, the views of staff members have been consistently side-stepped and ignored."
"[ The federation] calls on the provost to halt the current headlong rush towards ill-considered structures and resource-allocation mechanisms and to negotiate without delay a model of meaningful consultation."
However, in a sign that Dr Hegarty is confident of introducing the proposals according to his original deadline of September 2005, a meeting of the college board yesterday heard that a decision would be taken by next February.
Although two months later than originally planned, this new deadline could see a huge reduction in departments and the creation of between 13-15 academic schools, from next September.
Significant resistance still exists among college staff and students. Mr Francis Kieran, president of TCD's student union, said the recent surveys indicated there was "clearly no silent majority" in favour of the plans.
"The college authorities should stop pretending everyone is in favour of it," he said. "They need to allow for much more input from students."
A meeting of the college's senior academics, or fellows, earlier this month voted overwhelmingly to support a motion calling for the restructuring to be deferred until February at the earliest. This was in part because the present restructuring proposals did not command majority support.
It called on the university board to "defer any decision on the said restructuring proposals until it is satisfied that such proposals represent the settled will of the majority of college".
Another survey conducted last month on behalf of the deans of the college's two arts faculties also outlined a number of key areas where members of those faculties disagreed with the proposals.
However, the college's senior lecturer, Prof John Murray, last night strongly defended the proposed restructuring and the way in which the college authorities had communicated with staff.
Most of the concerns emerging from last month's ballot of the arts faculties, as well as the motion put forward by the college's fellows, already had been or currently were being addressed, he said.