Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. Will she identify the number of civil servants at senior level or, if she knows, principal officer level, who have now been moved in to FÁS to deal with the issues there? I suppose the key question we on this side of the House all want answered is, has the leopard changed its spots. Have practices changed utterly in FÁS?

One of the issues that arose recently was the question of certification of courses, which were fixed - where people had failed they were deemed to have passed. Has the Tánaiste heard anything further on this issue and is she aware of an allegation that some participants in the course batch of which I speak, who had originally failed and were passed, were brought back for re-sits, that not all of them re-sat their examinations but they are getting their certification? That is a serious issue. I ask the Tánaiste to investigate it with urgency because the credibility of FÁS remains at stake. Has the leopard changes its spots or not?

See this speech in context