Ms Anne Vaughan:

I welcome Deputy Michael Conaghan's remarks. It is perhaps not fully understood, but when stuff is progressing and there are difficulties, one can see the scale of what is happening. The Croke Park agreement facilitated some of what we were able to do, while the staff of the three organisations involved facilitated the change. Having said that, Mr. McKeown headed up the IR negotiations and it was not a small or simple piece of work, but there was agreement. I learned that there was agreement at every level to have a focus on providing a better customer service and that is what drove people forward. That was the prize and we were able to fix issues as we moved along.

We like to have our Irish model of social protection, which is the best of everything. In preparing for the Intreo service we looked at the arrangements in other countries. We have a long way to go to reach a Scandinavian model and much of it comes back to the fact that it is a totally different system. The rates of social insurance paid are totally different, as are the benefits. Everything is different, but we are looking at what works in other countries.

We obviously view a lot of the developments in the UK, the EU, Australia and further afield. Certainly, in terms of contracting out, we have looked at what has been going on in countries that have been doing this for many decades. There is an advantage in coming to this later than perhaps we should have. That is just by way of explanation.

Deputy Lawlor referred to Newbridge and he knows better than I that the situation there is very difficult. I said earlier that we are trying to make Intreo work. Ideally, we would like the Intreo service to be in one physical location because that works best. However, that is not possible in many of our locations and we are going to have to make it fit in whatever way we are configured. However, it is a particular challenge in Newbridge, as I am aware.

The OPW is the body that sources accommodation for us and enables our accommodation to be fitted out, re-kitted and so on. We and the OPW are working hard on the Intreo programme in order to achieve the establishment of more than 40 Intreo offices at the end of this year. While that is very challenging, it remains the target, and the OPW is confident it can reach that target. We can supply the committee with a list of the offices that are already Intreo or are to be Intreo-ed this year and next year. The plan is to finish by the end of next year. I can separately supply the secretariat with that, if it suits. I do not particularly want to say much more about Newbridge at this point. There are a lot of issues there and I am well aware of them. We and the OPW are doing our best.

With regard to FÁS and the check-backs, I made some reference to this issue earlier. We are working on this as we move forward with the ETBs. People need to be selected for courses and training for which they are suitable. As I said to Deputy Lyons, support needs to be given to people who have been longer out of the workforce. There is a check-back. People who have been placed in jobs have come back into the office and we are aware of that. People are spoken to again by the case officer to see why they did not stick it out. As I said earlier, my education colleagues are very much of the view that people need to be vetted for certain training courses to make sure they are suitable for them. I hope that will improve the situation.

I am not sure what progression data I have available. I suspect we do not have it on FÁS courses as such.