Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 94: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the grounds for her concerns in respect of FÁS; the scope of the investigation which she has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to carry out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44895/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Comptroller and Auditor General in his report on non-commercial Semi-State bodies, published in May 2008, reviewed the issues raised in one specific FÁS internal audit report.

I discussed this matter with the then Director General of FÁS and have expressed my concerns about the issues raised by both the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Internal Audit report, and in particular, the need to secure value for money in public expenditure.

Following discussions with the Chairman and the Director General of FÁS, I decided that there should be an external investigation into the effectiveness of the financial management and control systems that are generally in place in FÁS, rather than be limited to aspects raised in the internal audit report which gave rise to the earlier Special Report. I therefore requested the Comptroller and Auditor General to consider doing such a review and he has acceded to that request. My intention in requesting this review is to ensure that appropriate public procurement procedures exist to prevent or detect irregularities or wrongdoing and to also examine and report on the activities of the FÁS Corporate Affairs area since 2000, in order to achieve reasonable assurance as to whether there were any occasions of potential fraud or irregularity in that area other than those already brought to light by FÁS Internal Audit Unit.

It is a matter for the Controller and Auditor General to determine the scope of his investigation. In this regard, I welcome the statement by the Comptroller and Auditor General at a recent Public Accounts Committee hearing that he would soon begin his examination of the effectiveness of management and control systems in the FÁS organisation and that he would finalise his terms of reference shortly in consultation with my Department and the Public Accounts Committee.