THE DÁIL’S spending watchdog has stopped short of calling on board members of Fás to resign following the publication of its highly critical report of the State training agency’s spending practices.
However, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bernard Allen, indicated yesterday that it would have recommended resignations because of “failures” of corporate governance were it not for restrictions placed on its powers. The report, he said, had uncovered a culture of “apathy and extravagance” within the training agency.
“We believe the board of Fás has to be reduced dramatically in its size and that employers and unions no longer have the automatic right to nominate members,” said Mr Allen. “We have stopped short of calling for resignations. We are restrained by the constitutional position following the ‘Abbeylara’ finding. But we are making it quite clear that there should be change.”
Mr Allen was speaking at the launch of the committee’s interim report of its examination of Fás expenditure practices. The report is highly critical of the agency’s inappropriate spending on first-class flights and luxury travel, as well as on “free” flights for board members, journalists and spouses.
It describes as “unorthodox” the procurement practices for its €35 million advertising budget between 2003 and 2007, and concludes that a relatively short-lived jobs website – run by a firm formed 10 days before the contract was awarded – ended up costing the taxpayer at least €1.2 million.
The conclusion criticises the Fás board for failures of corporate governance. The report recommends that the internal audit that uncovered “favouritism” in granting contracts should be sent to the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
The “culture of apathy” had, Mr Allen said, “meant that significant sums of money were wasted, meaning a loss to the taxpayer. There are a lot of lessons that apply not only to Fás, but to the wider public service arising from what is covered in the report.”
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that a Dáil committee enquiring into the shooting by gardaí of John Carthy at Abbeylara did not have the power or authority to make findings of fact or expressions of opinion adverse to the good name or reputation of citizens. Mr Allen said the Abbeylara ruling had curtailed the findings of the interim report.
“We would have gone further. We would have been more hard-hitting and more specific in apportioning blame,” said Mr Allen.
Another committee member, Fine Gael TD Jim O’Keeffe, said there was now a strong case for legislation that would overturn, or dilute, the Abbeylara judgment.
Roisin Shortall of Labour pointed out that it would have been difficult to effect resignations as the composition of the boards had changed during the period under examination and it would have been difficult to pinpoint individuals. She added that it was not acceptable to have the cosy relationships evidenced in the report.
Mr Allen noted the “terrible frustration” of the committee at the manner in which Fás interpreted the Data Protection Act. “We got vast tracts of documents that were redacted and blacked out. We have asked for a change in legislation to give us the power to override the provisions of the Data Protection Act,” he said.
He added that Fás had not exercised discretion wisely in managing its €1 billion annual budget. “There was a serious lack of oversight at corporate and executive level throughout the agency which led to wastage and excess.”