Comptroller's report slates Fás for failing to get value for money

A REPORT from the Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell has criticised the employment authority Fás for failing to achieve value for money in its dealings with its principal advertising agency, as well as misdirecting Fás funds on a website project.

Fás is among a number of State bodies covered in a report that deals with the protection of public funds and the implementation of public procurement rules.

The cost of a contract with an advertising agency for the Fás Opportunities 2002 project was €250,000, "at least twice as much as was paid previously, or since, for such work", the report states.

The report also details how a new Jobs Ireland website, developed by Fás, provided functions that were already being supplied by existing systems.

The website cost €1.7 million and an audit suggested it may have cost €1 million more than it should have.

Mr Purcell's report found that a viable case for the project had not been made and that the resources allocated to the project "did not produce value for money for the agency. The absence of an IT strategy at the time facilitated the misdirection of Fás resources towards this end".

The report also considered matters surrounding the purchase of Joycean material for almost €1.2 million by the National Library in March 2005.

An employee of the library became aware of the existence of the manuscripts in early 2004 and visited the Paris bookseller who had them for sale. He concluded the papers could be had for €400,000.

As the library was in the process of considering buying the material, a dealer who has conducted work concerning James Joyce and Samuel Beckett for the State became the owner of the material.

The dealer had independently become aware of the existence of the manuscripts. She purchased the material for an unknown price, the report states.

The library subsequently bought the material from the dealer for €1.17 million.

The library received three valuations of the manuscripts and was advised that the price it was paying was the market price.

Mr Purcell's report states: "While the State ultimately acquired the manuscripts in question for a price representing the market value, the circumstances surrounding the sourcing of the material and the level of interaction that is inevitable within a limited community of persons in a specialised field strongly suggests that more robust contractual and ethical arrangements may be required to protect the State's interests where such factors come into play."

The report also deals with expenditures by the Abbey Theatre, Beaumont Hospital, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, Science Foundation Ireland, Beaumont Hospital, the Marine Institute and vocational educational committees.