Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

This Bill does little to address the significant systemic problems in FÁS. Currently, more than 430,000 people are on the live register and face an uncertain future. This country needs and demands a State training agency that can provide expert training courses that meet the needs of industry and labour in order to get people back to work.

We have all spoken on what are termed the "new economy" and the "smart economy" and the new jobs in technology, engineering and science that are the future for our labour force. However, the tools of the State to prepare people for this new labour market are inadequate. In recent days, I have received information on what is occurring in FÁS, particularly in some of its training courses, that makes for damning reading. It is shocking for those trainees it effects, for the businesses they want to be in, for the taxpayer and for the good and honest reputation of FÁS.

A complaint was made about what a contractor working for FÁS was doing. The executive summary of the auditor's report states:

The audit was initiated in response to a request from Training Services in the North East region which raised concerns regarding aspects of the assessment process on contracts run by [a company]. Internal Audit examined some of the assessments.

This audit made significant damning findings against FÁS. The summary went on:

The key issue of the audit was to determine the integrity of the assessment process in these contracts and by extension the integrity of the certification processed by FÁS and issued by the various certifying bodies such as FETAC and City & Guilds.

The stakes for FÁS, FETAC and City & Guilds are high. They are also high for those companies that are part of a multimillion euro industry and provide courses for and on behalf of FÁS.

Two issues were raised in the report. It stated:

The first of these matters was that Curriculum Sections within FÁS training centres adopted different approaches to the verification of assessments carried out by contracted trainers. The Curriculum Section in Dundalk supervised independent verifications of contracted courses, in much the same way as they did for in-centre courses. On the other hand, Baldoyle Training Centre did not carry out these independent verifications. Such a divergence of approach between training centres is a matter for concern in the context of FÁS' role in regard to the certifying bodies.

The second matter that arose during the audit was the question of shortcomings in the set-up of contracted training courses which involved a significant amount of IT training and certification. The issues that arose in relation to the contracts included outdated and unreliable computers, the lack of adequate numbers of printers or networked printers during assessments and computer disks being re-used or unavailable.

These are serious and damning situations in which FÁS has allowed contracted companies to do its business and cases where FÁS did not maintain oversight. This report into the certification of these courses is dated February 2009.

The key issue of the audit was to determine the integrity of the assessment process in these contracts. The internal audit examined a total of seven contracts. It is important to place the internal audit findings in an overall context. In all the cases examined, it found that the assessment event took place and in the case of three contracts, the internal audit found that the sample assessments had been processed correctly. The issues identified with the remaining four contracts sampled by internal audit varied in significance. However, the findings point to a number of instances of the manipulation of assessment material in contracts delivered by this company for and on behalf of FÁS.

The manipulation of material initially came to light on a computer aided design, CAD, course run in the north-east region. The company accepted in writing in April 2007 that the assessment material had become unreliable. However, the company ran further courses and the same issues still arose, but it did not address the initial problem. In light of the acceptance that the assessment material had been manipulated on the north-east CAD contract, there was an onus on the company to ensure that the same did not occur on subsequent contracts. The internal audit was of the view that this was not done.

These are important courses, costing tens of thousands of euro, some of which run for ten or 11 months. In many cases they are full-time courses in which the results are fixed. It does not make sense. People pass the tests who could never have passed. Dates of tests have been changed. It is stated that a test was taken on 5 April, for example, but the record will show the test was taken on 13 May or some other date. The whole arrangement is a fix, a con, and it is a disgrace.

One company is responsible for these actions which have been carried out in a number of places. I do not have the name of the company because this information has been redacted. I have contacted the office of the director general of FÁS and requested the name of that company because we are entitled to know it, what it was paid and why it continued to provide further courses when there was evidence that one course in particular had been manipulated.

The internal audit would have expected that subsequent to the CAD contract, further contracts would be conducted with integrity and meet the clear standards set down by the certifying bodies. The internal audit is of the view that the material highlighted in this report shows that this did not happen. I ask if there are other courses where this is happening. I ask the Minister of State to revert to his senior Minister and to FÁS; I ask him to name the company and the payments it has received. I also ask him to say what action he will take with regard to this situation and what changes will be implemented in FÁS.

I refer to a reply I received to Parliamentary Question No. 81 of 8 October 2009. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment referred to "a revision of the relevant procedures, the enhancement of the contract used when dealing with external contractors and the development of a protocol to allow appropriate sanctions to be taken against external contractors". What sanctions, if any, can be imposed on this company? It appears none. Is it a fact that the Minister cannot recover the money or has it even been sought? Is the Minister ensuring independent verification of the results of these tests? The relevant external certifying bodies have been informed of the audit findings. What action has been taken by City & Guilds and other independent examining bodies who run courses on behalf of FÁS? What are they and the Minister and the Department doing about it?

This country could be dragged into the mire by the antics of FÁS. There is evidence of one company which ran four long-term courses. This is not acceptable and it is a scandal at the heart of FÁS. The standard of some of these courses is equivalent to the leaving certificate. I remind the Minister of State of the understandable fury in Drogheda when a leaving certificate exam was inadvertently shown for a few seconds or minutes to a candidate. I ask him to imagine the furore if FÁS courses are not up to scratch because of a lack of proper verification.

Are inquiries currently being carried out all around the country? I want to know the truth about this matter. Does this situation also apply to other companies? If this is the case, I ask the Minister of State to make a statement to the House in this regard tomorrow morning. We need a credible process. The young people participating in these courses need to be assured that such courses are completely above board. If the Minister is spending millions of euro providing these courses, we must be ensured that they are properly and independently corrected.

If a teacher were to change the results of a candidate's test in order to give him or her a pass mark which they did not deserve, this would bring the examination system into disrepute. FÁS has been discredited as a national organisation because of the antics, waste of money, arrogance, complacency and lack of accountability, which continues in FÁS in this specific case. The House needs to be reassured that this is being addressed, that something is being done about it and that it will never happen again. The situation cannot be allowed to continue in which a company falsifies results and is then given another contract and falsifies those results also. What sort of country are we running? This is unacceptable and I ask if the situation is continuing. I am asking a very important question. I want to know the answer because the country is entitled to know the facts.

There are other issues which I cannot address here. I acknowledge that people in FÁS have acted with integrity as evidenced by the release of these papers in order to facilitate me. I acknowledge there are very fine people who are doing a great job in FÁS, but there is also a rotten core in the organisation. There has been unacceptable behaviour for a State training body and this must be rooted out now. If this is not done, we will be back in the House with more information on the incredible, appalling, disgraceful situation which the Government has allowed to develop in FÁS through its failure to make it accountable to these Houses.

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