Mr. Pat Delaney:

Unity of purpose is really important. From the very little dialogue I have had, I believe the many good people on the ground in FÁS who have done tremendous work need to be reminded of how good their work has been and build on it. When I use the phrase “walk away from its history”, I am not saying it is a bad history. In all of these matters, people become scarred and afraid to make decisions.

They become indifferent, in some ways, because they believe everyone is against them.

From the outset my sense of SOLAS is that the organisation will be one of operational and performance excellence. The people working there are very good at what they do. FÁS courses would have been sought after by the public but unfortunately the brand suffered because people thought the courses were not suitable for them or there was a social stigma attached to participating on them. I do not believe that training is bad for anybody. Training can only enhance and improve an individual. The provision of that training, its extent, scope and impact, must be measured against all of the criteria I referred to earlier, which will be laid down by the Oireachtas for the organisation. It is not a case of walking away from a bad history but of walking forward with pride in what has been achieved and improving on that.