Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

Deputy Quinn spoke about the restructuring of the board of FÁS. I have received queries from people concerned about the worker-director element of that board. They believe that the reduction in the number of appointees will result in worker-directors no longer having a place on the board. I believe that would be a retrograde step. At the end of the day, public accountability should ensure the greatest possible level of scrutiny on the part of any board. This will only happen if worker-directors are appointed to boards. That is not to suggest that other appointees will not do a good job. I believe the new board, when in place, will be a good one but only because the previous one was so negligent in its responsibilities. Regardless of who we knew on that board, who was a member of it or what reputation they had, the board was negligent and disgraceful. To say information was withheld is only half an argument. It must be stressed that while the board could have asked what was going on it did not do so.

The 400,000 plus people on the live register are the ones suffering in this scandal. They are seeking to upskill to ensure they will have a place in the new market and they are not being facilitated. I agree with Deputies Upton and Sherlock that the people working at the coalface of the FÁS organisation are the people we turned to in the 1980s and early 1990s when times were bad. They were the people who gave workers hope and who had the contacts to ensure people could get back into work. They are still the people we should look to. A type of paralysis has come over the FÁS organisation, a paralysis brought about by the appalling conduct of a few at the top, all of whom were, in one guise or another, appointed by this Government.

I acknowledge we are concentrating tonight on the Dublin-based organisation. The Minister already knows about senior managers from FÁS in Cork standing shoulder to shoulder with Ministers outside churches giving out Fianna Fáil election literature. That does nothing for public confidence in the organisation. On the other hand, we hear of minor officials in local authorities, grade 3 entry level staff, being told they are not to canvass. There is something seriously wrong, and it is a worrying development.

There is a direct connection that must be broken and the only way to do that is to get this Government out of office and keep it out for at least three terms so we can ensure that the golden circle is broken up. We should be here tonight to discuss how we will get 400,000 back to work and how best to serve them. The State training agency, FÁS, is the agency we should look to for that. Instead, the cloud that now hangs over it does not allow it to develop to its full potential as an organisation.

The history of politics is littered with the gravestones of Governments who have tripped over hurdles they have made for themselves, Governments whose tenures become crystalised in a single symbol. For Margaret Thatcher the hated poll tax became a symbol of distrust for the common man, a lightning rod for discontent in England. Charlie Haughey will be forever known as the man with the Charvet shirts. For this Government, incompetence and waste has exaggerated all that was wrong with a society based on greed. The perception of a golden circle will be how this Government will be remembered.

The Government has rightly been saddled with that perception. It has allowed too many people to dip their snouts in the public trough. Now, as we move closer to an election, the Government's rear end moves ever closer to the bacon slicer and Fianna Fáil and the Green Party know it.

As Deputy Quinn explained, the Government, even at this late stage, must take drastic action to accept its share of responsibility for the errors that were made and show some sign that it has learned from past mistakes. To do that, we must ensure that those who desperately need the support of the Government get it.

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