Report on FAS due within a month

A MAJOR report on the future of FAS, the state training authority, will go to Government within a month. The report will focus on whether the organisation's role should be split between industrial training and programmes for the unemployed.

The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, said yesterday that a decision on the future of FADS would form part of the Government's White Paper on Training. It is understood that one option could be to widen the role of Forbairt, the state agency charged with developing indigenous industry, by giving it the industrial training brief.

Although the long awaited report will go to Government shortly, it is not expected to be published before September.

Mr Bruton, who was addressing the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD) conference in Galway, said Irish companies were still not investing enough money in training. He said the report would also examine whether tax relief for training should be extended to individuals - it already exists for companies.

Mr Bruton said Irish firms spent around 1.5 per cent of annual turnover on training whereas the European norm was between three and 5 per cent.

Mr Bruton said the Government was exploring ways to use temporary work as a method of helping people get back into the labour market. A working party was investigating "the potential of a support scheme" to provide more temporary work opportunities, he said.

The Minister told delegates that pay and conditions were no longer the primary source of industrial relations problems in the Labour Court, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Issues of conflict include a low level of trust between employers and employees, a lack of consultation with employees and an inability to deal with minor matters without recourse to third parties.

Mr Bruton said the Labour Court was also dealing with cases where there had been an absence of, or failure to adhere to, grievance and dispute procedures.

He added that a period of "calm reflection" was needed before a successor to the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW) was hammered out. He said the last few national wage agreements had boosted take home pay significantly. Between 1987 add 1995, net take home pay at the average industrial wage has increased by 25 per cent in real terms for single people.

"For a one income married couple with two children, real net income has increased by 18 per cent," he said. "Between 1993 and last year, net real pay for a similar couple increased by 5.4 per cent," he said.