John Carty (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for his speech. There is great disquiet at recent revelations in the media, primarily through the investigations of Senator Shane Ross, concerning activities in the corporate affairs division of FÁS, especially relating to foreign travel where a massive €643,000 was spent over a short number of years.

I welcome the board's assurances that action has now been taken to deal with these matters. FÁS has done tremendous work at local and community level for many years and it would be a shame to take away from that. It is important that FÁS as an organisation remains focused on its core mission, given the current employment situation and the training and retraining challenges facing the country.

While we can question the unorthodox events that occurred involving a small number of people in the organisation, it must not deflect from the important work FÁS has done in the past and needs to do now to help people who find themselves in trouble because of the global economic downturn. The proactive work being done by FÁS at this time includes the establishment of a training fund to enable a speedy response to retraining needs for low-skilled workers. FÁS has done a good job in the area of training and upskilling construction workers and tradesmen. This must be commended as such workers have been hardest hit by the recent economic downturn.

The Minister of State referred to the fact that FÁS and the Department of Social and Family Affairs are working together to respond quickly to the rising live register figures, which is to be welcomed. Money must be given as quickly as possible to those who find themselves out of work. I commend the Minister of State, the Department and FÁS for working together on this issue.

FÁS has initiated a programme to help young apprentices who have been let go mid-apprenticeship to progress to the next level of their training. Another example of the great work being carried out by FÁS is its science challenge research training programme for undergraduates at the prestigious Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, in the field of biomedicine. That programme illustrates how FÁS is looking to invest and promote careers in Ireland's knowledge economy. In recent years enormous investment has taken place, particularly in the west, in the biomedicine field.

FÁS has more than 2,000 staff and continues to be an integral part of Ireland's education and training sector. It has done much good work, a fact that has been recognised by Members on both sides of the House today. I look forward to the Comptroller and Auditor General beginning his examination of the effectiveness of management and control systems in FÁS, once the Committee of Public Accounts has completed its current hearings. I congratulate that committee on the work done to date. Had that committee received the information it requested from FÁS on day one, the current unwarranted publicity might not have fallen so hard on heads in FÁS. Had the organisation co-operated with the committee and produced the information requested at the beginning, it might not have featured so heavily in newspaper headlines in recent times. The media is now examining where every single euro and dollar was spent. Every day one sees new headlines and, indeed, today's Evening Herald headline refers to a missing car, if I am not mistaken. If FÁS had co-operated with the Committee of Public Accounts, the affair would have been dealt with in a much more positive fashion.

The Comptroller and Auditor General highlighted a number of issues of concern relating to FÁS, including the non-observance of formal internal procurement guidelines, instances of a failure to achieve value for money from advertising and contracts for major events, as well as the need for a clear strategic focus on significant expenditure for new organisational developments. I look forward to the investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General being completed as quickly as possible to clear up this affair. As I have said already, FÁS has done excellent work over the years and it would be a shame to see its focus shifting from its primary function, especially in the current economic climate.

The Minister of State made many positive comments today and I know that both he the Tánaiste are very much on top of the situation. I am certain this whole affair will be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.