New legislation and board for Fás

Revised legislation governing Fás has come into force today while a new board has also been appointed to the employment and training agency.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan, confirmed this afternoon she had signed the Commencement Order bringing into force the Labour Services (Amendment) Act 2009

“The significant governance changes implemented by this legislation, together with the appointment of a new board, sends a clear signal to the public of the root and branch cultural change in accountability and transparency underway at the organisation," she said.

The legislation provides for a significantly stronger governance and accountability structure at the agency and includes the introduction of a rolling system of appointments to the boar and the removal of the automatic right to nominate individuals for appointment to the board from bodies not directly accountable to the taxpayer.

The act also sees the board reduced in size from 17 to 11 members and makes the director general of Fás accountable to the Oireachtas. Other measures include requiring the disclosure of conflicts of interest by directors and staff and the removal of such individuals if there is a breach. Protection for ‘whistleblower’ members of staff who report serious wrongdoing in the organisation is also included.

Announcing the new board of Fás, the minister said its membership draws on a wide range of experience from both the private and public sector.

The board is to be chaired by Michael Dempsey, a former senior director of Bristol Myers Squibb.

Board members include Paul O’Toole, director general, Fás; Dermot Curran, assistant secretary at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Tony Dempsey former TD and chairman of the Enniscorthy Enterprise Centre; Seán Gallagher, managing director of Smarthomes; Emer Gilvarry, managing partner at Mason, Hayes and Curran; Martin Hogan, innovation manager at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology and managing director of Statesoft; Annette Hughes, director, DKM Economic Consultants; Séan Ó Longáin, Barrister and former CEO of the Co Donegal Vocational Education Committee; Brendan J. Murphy, president, Cork Institute of Technology and Margaret Sweeney, CEO Postbank Ireland.

"The new board has been appointed on the basis of experience and competence," said Ms Coughlan. "It will, in my view, be a dynamic board ensuring that Fás can meet the standards expected of it by the public and effectively address the current employment challenge.”

Fine Gael described the announcement of the new Fás board as “a missed opportunity” given that many of its members already sitting on other State boards or working as civil servants

“The new Fás board of eleven members includes two senior civil servants and six people who are already on another State board. Ironically, nobody who works in Fás has been included on the board other than the director general, and there is no one representing the unemployed or apprentices,” said the party’s Enterprise, Trade and Employment Spokesperson Leo Varadkar.