Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

— expresses its serious concern at the findings of the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which disclosed a shocking absence of financial control in FÁS including the expenditure of €600,000 on a television advertisement that was never broadcast, €9,000 on a car for a raffle that was never held and the expenditure of €622,000 which could not be accounted for;

— notes that serious breaches of procurement in the corporate affairs division of FÁS, over many years, had been detailed in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report of May 2008;

— notes that further evidence of waste of taxpayers' money on lavish travel arrangements, accommodation and entertainment for Government Ministers, FÁS board members and executives had previously emerged and had been confirmed in the interim report of the Committee of Public Accounts, published in February 2009;

— condemns the total failure of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Mary Coughlan, and her two predecessors in that Department, Deputy Micheál Martin and Deputy Mary Harney, to exercise appropriate supervision of the agency and to prevent the wanton waste of taxpayers' money;

— believes that a far too cosy relationship was allowed to develop between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the agency it was supposed to be supervising;

— condemns the generous financial package agreed with the former director general of FÁS, following his resignation in November 2008; believes that the package was not consistent with the Government's own guidelines governing the departure of chief executives of State bodies; and deplores, in particular, the irresponsible failure of the Tánaiste to seek legal advice on the matter;

— instructs the Tánaiste to examine all options for recovery of moneys paid to the former director general, over and above his statutory entitlement;

— calls on the Minister for Finance to bring forward revised guidelines on appropriate severance arrangements for officials who leave the public service;

— notes the resignation of the chairman of FÁS announced on 1 October 2009 and the statement confirming the intention of other members of the board to stand down;

— notes the importance of an effective and efficient training agency against the background of almost 450,000 on the live register; and

— believes that the majority of the staff at FÁS are hardworking and committed employees, who did not benefit from the regime of lavish expenses that has caused such public outrage;

calls on the Government to:

— restructure the board of FÁS along the lines proposed in the report of the Committee of Public Accounts;

— refocus FÁS on its core work as the State training agency, capable of meeting the needs of those seeking employment, by providing relevant and high-quality training; and

— ensure stringent accountability and oversight in respect of the spending of public moneys within both FÁS and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

I wish to share time with Deputies Joanna Tuffy and Martin Ferris.

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