THE STATE training agency Fás has defended its spending on a purpose-built construction centre in Co Offaly amid accusations that it is being used by as few as four trainees a week.
Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, who made the claim based on what he described as a reliable local source, has called for an inquiry into the Fás National Construction Centre in Mount Lucas, which was built in 2009 at a cost of €6.7 million.
Describing it as “a white elephant in the bog”, Mr Stanley said Fás had no training courses in nearby Portarlington, where more than 3,300 people are on the Live Register. Yet the Mount Lucas centre, which is serviced by no public transport, was “staffed by a full-time manager, one instructor and a receptionist, with one course training four people being run each week”.
He added: “I’m not a quantity surveyor, I’m not an engineer, but I am able to spot good value for money. If you go out to there, what you are looking at is a whole lot of Portakabins in a bog.”
While Fás did not respond yesterday to Mr Stanley’s specific allegation about the number of trainees at the centre, it insisted it was engaged in using the Mount Lucas facility effectively and was investigating alternative strategies to maximise its use.
In a statement, Fás said it had been successful in developing a range of additional local daytime and evening training programmes at Mount Lucas, such as the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), security, manual and computerised accounts/payroll and health and safety.
The facility had also been used by the local vocational education committee to provide training programmes in business, IT, healthcare and computer networks. Fás was on target to deliver more than 590 training places at the facility this year, the agency said.
On the centre’s location, Fás said it was developed to provide a safe, off-the-job environment for certified training in the use of heavy earth-moving machines, construction plant, cranes and other machinery.
“This is in addition to a suite of construction-related courses,” the agency said. “As required by health and safety regulations, a ratio of four-to-one instructor is applied to each course type.”
Fás said research was near completion into the feasibility of locating training courses in green technology at Mount Lucas.
It had a range of services available to employers and jobseekers in Co Laois from its office in Portlaoise and clinics in Portarlington and Rathdowney, it said.
However Mr Stanley said: “If this is maximising training resources and the best Fás can offer the people in this region, then they have questions to answer about their competency to cater for the training needs of the unemployed.”
Daingean, Edenderry or Portarlington could have benefited from the investment in the centre, Mr Stanley added, saying he would like to see the focus change from construction to the alternative energy and agri-food sectors.
He also questioned the thinking in Fás when, back in 2009, the facility was built in an area where locally, “construction in that area was not just flat, it was buried”.
“This centre has no public transport services and mainly runs training courses for operators of construction plants such as dumpers, excavators and teleporters. Do we really need more of these at a time when the construction industry is at a standstill?”
He called on Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn to carry out an investigation.