Fás head questioned on Mazars

Fás director general Paul O'Toole, has told a Dáil committee that the State training agency will not be given full access to a report that it commissioned from accountancy firm Mazars at a cost of up to €250,000.

Mr O'Toole told the Public Accounts Committee today that the Mazars report had found 18 inaccuracies and two partial inaccuracies in evidence given by Fás to the PAC during five appearances during 2008 and 2009.

However, he said he could not confirm if the inaccurate evidence given by the agency amounted to a misleading of the committee.

This was because Mazars had indicated it would not be able to give Fás details of the inaccuracies due to undertakings of confidentiality given to people participating in the investigation.

Mr O'Toole later added that he also couldn't say for certain that Fás had not misled the committee.

PAC committee chairman John McGuinness expressed amazement at Mr O'Toole's statement in light of the cost of the report, which is expected to be €200,000-€250,000.

"Ultimately it's the taxpayer that is paying the cheque," Mr McGuinness said. "The PAC has to hear all of the evidence, warts and all," he added, noting that it was "unacceptable" for the committee to hear about these issues from media reports.

The Mazars report was established to examine a series of complaints by the former head of Fás's corporate affairs division, Greg Craig.

The inability of Fás to access the full details of this report was described as "quite bizarre" by the independent TD Shane Ross, a member of the committee.

"It's crazy. The people who made the report won't tell the findings to the people who commissioned it," he said.

Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald accused Mr O'Toole of making "a play of words" in his failure to confirm that Fás had misled the committee. She added that it was "completely unacceptable" that there appeared to be "an omerta descending on the full facts".

Mr O'Toole has sent two letters to Mazars over the past week seeking its co-operation on the release of confidential details and said he hoped to be able to provide more information to the clerk of the committee next week.

This process will include contacting witnesses who co-operated with the investigation on a confidential basis. Some of these witnesses are retired staff members of Fás.

Mr O'Toole denied a suggestion by Mr McGuinness that he was making an attempt "to park the issue" and said the current Fás management was "not on notice that the committee was misled".

He said he understood some of the inaccuracies might relate to facts such as "incorrect dates". Fine Gael TD Simon Harris rejected this: "No one believes they were all incorrect dates and if they were, then we have an even bigger problem with the quality of the information."

Mr O'Toole, who joined Fás in April 2009, said the organisation would "do everything" to restore confidence and trust in the agency.

"There is no part of the current culture within Fás that would seek to mislead a Dáil committee," he said.

"It serves nothing to have further reputational damage to this organisation on this or any other issue."