Harney proposes merger of Forbairt, trade board

Proposals to iron out "duplication and confusion" by merging the functions of Forbairt and An Bord Trachtala (The Irish Trade Board) will be put before the Cabinet by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, today. Ms Harney said yesterday she wanted to create a new "dynamic" agency to support Irish industry. The agency - which is expected to be approved by the Cabinet - will replace the two State bodies, Forbairt and The Irish Trade Board and will also include the industry training operation of FAS. There were 45 different measures aimed at the business sector from the two agencies and FAS which was "not an efficient approach", she said. "Those who need it most do not know where to begin." Ms Harney was launching a waste disposal company, Contec, at Inchicore, Dublin. The company specialises in the handling of mercury waste products, such as used fluorescent light tubes, for export to a Manchester-based recycling plant.

She said she wanted to create "something new" out of Forbairt and the Irish Trade Board very quickly, with an emphasis on the necessity for companies to be export driven. She had consulted widely with the agencies and with people in Irish industry.

"If we are to continue to support Irish industry in the context of competing in the international marketplace, everything has to come together rather than be separate," she said. Ms Harney also has proposals for reforming aspects of FAS, the State training agency; some features AS will be brought under the remit of a new agency. She said FAS needed to best serve the interests of the unemployed in giving them access to the employment market. According to the Tanaiste, The Irish Trade Board had been set up by a previous Government and she was not sure that the right decision was made at the time. The trade board was founded in 1991, under the then minister for enterprise and employment, Mr Ruairi Quinn, as a result of a merger of the Irish Export Board (Coras Trachtala) and the Irish Goods Council. Its brief is to assist companies in developing markets in Ireland and overseas.

Forbairt was established in 1993 by the Fianna Fail/Labour government as part of the last major reorganisation of the State industrial agencies. This reorganisation, which was the subject of considerable political controversy at the time, involved splitting up the original Industrial Development Authority into IDA Ireland, which attracts inward investment, Forbairt, which works with Irish-owned industry and Forfas, which is involved in policy-making and overseeing the operation of the agencies. In 1993, the Government decided to leave the trade board as a separate organisation, but this is now to change, provided the Cabinet approves the reorganisation plan.