Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I have. We need answers to our questions so I hope this debate will not be jettisoned for the sake of time and brevity. This is important; we are talking about taxpayers' money. The Minister of State referred to the board of FÁS. What mechanism has it put in place for reporting to the Government? What action is the Government taking about the role of FÁS and its reporting mechanism? What assurances did the Minister of State or the Minister receive from the board of FÁS, as the Minister of State mentioned in his speech? This issue involves people spending taxpayers' money.

The Minister of State also referred to the review of the efficiency and effectiveness of labour market programmes. When will that report be ready? Why are we only getting this now? Why is it only now that we are getting to the bottom of this? The Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, spoke of the action being taken by the Minister. What has been happening for the past ten years? Why is it only happening now? Where has the oversight been for the past ten years? The problems at FÁS did not happen in the space of one week or one night. Where were the reporting mechanisms and procedures? Where was the accountability? There was none. The Minister of State should not blame the Opposition. We did not create this problem.