John Carty (Fianna Fail)

As we are all aware, FÁS as the national training and employment authority has a duty to provide supports and programmes to assist people to remain in and return to the workforce. FÁS is a key agency in the Government's plan to reduce unemployment. On 31 December 2008 under employment programmes, 24,500 people were on community employment schemes or a jobs initiative programme. We all know the invaluable work being done under those schemes. In every parish considerable work under community schemes has been done, is being done and I am hopeful will continue to be done. It has given a great social aspect to people's lives as they are doing something productive in the community rather than sitting at home twiddling their thumbs.

I ask the Minister of State to help young people whose training was nearly complete but because their sponsoring company had gone out of business before they completed it could not get that final piece of paper. I know a few young people who had been in training. I appeal to the Minister of State to offer support to people in that situation, either by securing them a place in another company for the required timeframe or by making some other arrangement. I welcome the co-operation between the Minister of State and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, and the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, in getting these types of schemes off the ground and supporting them once they are in place.

It is fitting the Minister of State acknowledged in his presentation the great work done by the majority of FÁS staff who take pride in their work of helping young people and the unemployed to secure employment. I welcome the amendments that were made to the Bill in the course of its progress through the other House. FÁS was established in 1987 and the legislation associated with it was in need of updating. The agency was established in a time of recession, after which the good times arrived. There is no doubt that management of the agency became lax and that certain unsatisfactory practices became the norm. It is time to tighten up the legislative provisions relating to FÁS, which is what this Bill proposes to do.

The Minister of State has outlined the main provisions of the legislation in detail. I acknowledge the indication by Fine Gael colleagues that they intend to support it. The Bill amends the legislation governing FÁS to provide for a stronger governance and accountability structure at the State employment and training agency. Specifically, it provides for a reduction in the size of the board from 17 to 11, the introduction of a rolling system of appointments to the board and the removal of the automatic right to nominate individuals for appointment to the board from bodies not directly accountable to the taxpayer. The legislation makes the director general of the agency accountable to the Oireachtas. This is a welcome provision which, if it were already in place, might have precluded some of the unacceptable activities of which we were made aware in recent months. The Bill obliges directors and staff of FÁS to disclose any conflicts of interest and prohibits directors and staff from any involvement in matters where such a conflict of interest arises. The whistleblower provisions offer protection to members of staff who report serious wrongdoings in the organisation. This is a welcome recognition of the fact that whistleblowers were sometimes cast aside after they blew the whistle on certain people. The Bill takes account of the recommendations of the fourth interim report of the Committee of Public Accounts in regard to the special report of the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding FÁS's 2007 accounts.

I welcome the Bill and look forward to its implementation without delay. I hope these proposals will help FÁS to grow in the coming years, at a time when we are in great need of the expertise and experience of its staff in helping people to face the challenges of unemployment.