Committee to examine latest Fás revelations

The vice chairman of the Dáil Committee on Public Accounts this morning said the body would examine the latest revelations over Fás expenditure and defended its inquiry into the State training body.

Yesterday, Fás director general Rody Molloy defended expenditure by the authority on transatlantic trips for himself, his wife, and senior Fás executives.

Mr Molloy responded on RTÉ radio yesterday to a report in a Sunday newspaper that stated Fás spent €643,000 on transatlantic travel for Mr Molloy and other senior Fás executives over a four-year period.

Paddy Duffy, a close associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, travelled to the United States as a guest of Fás in 2004 and 2006, although he had no official role with the authority.

Mr Molloy is to appear before the Committee on Public Accounts on Thursday. This morning, vice chair Darragh O'Brien of Fianna Fáil said there were concerns that he would “raise specifically” with Fás in relation to latest revelations.

Mr O'Brien noted the committee had been investigating Fás since the start of the year, would be meeting the authority again and would hold further meetings if necessary as part of a “very detailed” inquiry.

He said further documentation had been received last week from Fás that covered some of the latest public revelations.

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr O’Brien said sections of the internal audit handed over by Fás were blacked out. However, he pointed out legal advisers for the Oireachtas and Fás agreed there were aspects of that information that the committee could not receive after additional information was sought after meeting Fás last month.

This was “very frustrating,” Mr O’Brien said, adding that the taxpayers should be entitled to find out how their money is spent.

He said his committee was taking a “very measured” approach in investigating Fás and did not rush into decisions. “Our committee has shown in dealing with other state agencies that we don’t pull any punches when issues arise.”

“Our job in the PAC [Public Accounts Committee] is to protect the taxpayer . . . and make sure the taxpayer is getting value for money, and I am very confident that our committee will do that.”

Mr O’Brien said taxpayers were entitled to know that action was being taken and he did not envisage the PAC report taking months for publication.

On Today with Pat Kennyyesterday, Mr Molloy said he was "entitled" to travel first class and exchanged that entitlement for business-class travel for himself and his wife to the United States.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said Mr Molloy was an excellent public servant and had "every confidence" in him.

Last night, Senator Shane Ross, speaking on Questions and Answers, said the amount of money spent on travel, entertainment, and golf was "staggering".

“Fás has a budget of €1 billion a year. It’s very difficult to understand, if you look at their accounts, what they do with this money.

“I hope that Fás is an exception case . . . .but the fact that so much money is spent on transatlantic first-class business travel . . . makes you wonder how much of this is going on elsewhere in the public sector,” he said.