Fás chairman to resign next week

The chairman of Fás Peter McCloone is to resign at the end of the agency’s board meeting next week.

Mr McCloone told the Dáil Committee on Public Accounts today that he was not aware of the position of other board members.

Mr McCloone was asked for his view of the decision of a board member Niall Saul to speak with The Irish Timesand with RTÉ's Pat Kenny Showat a time when Mr McCloone was due to appear before the Committee to answer questions.

He was asked four times by Labour Party's Roisin Shortall if he felt this was appropriate.

Mr McCloone replied that the board had met on the 10th of this month and he had updated the board about new legislation being drafted by the Department of Enterprise concerning Fás.

He said the board was to continue with its work.

However, that afternoon, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, told reporters she would accept the resignation of the board, if it was submitted.

Mr McCloone said he sought and received clarification but the next morning the Minister for the Environment John Gormley said he believed the board should resign.

Mr McCloone said he believed the board of Fás should speak through him or the director general and in all his years on boards he "hadn't lived through an experience such as he had had in the last two weeks."

It was not appropriate that members of the board would go off making individual statements, "but these are not normal circumstances," he told the Committee.