POOR PLANNING, public waste and inappropriate expenditure has been a feature of recent governments. But nobody resigned. In that light, the forced departure of Fás chief executive Rody Molloy over an excessive use of public funds on trips to the United States is to be welcomed. Other problems at Fás remain to be tackled. Investigations by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) John Buckley and the Garda fraud squad into management and procurement issues at the agency should be completed and acted upon as a matter of urgency. And its administrative culture must change to reflect difficult economic times.
Just how profligate managers became in many State agencies during the boom years of the Celtic Tiger is uncertain. The situation, in some instances, may have reached gravy train proportions in view of the wish by Minister of State Billy Kelleher that the Fás experience will "serve as a wake-up call to other public bodies". The Department of Finance issues guidelines on such expenditure. But unless the rules are enforced by the board of the company, or by the relevant minister, they only serve as a fig leaf when things go wrong.
Public controversy has swirled around Fás for some years. And while Mr Molloy was not the focus of that controversy, his actions - or lack of them - certainly added to it. Efforts by an internal audit committee to have breaches of procurement rules and other corporate affairs matters thoroughly investigated were resisted. An initial inquiry by the CAG identified incorrect payments and a failure to secure value for money.
In spite of all that, the Public Accounts Committee received little co-operation from the agency or its chief executive in its role as protector of the public purse. At this time of economic uncertainty, politicians may not be the most appropriate people to pronounce on standards in public office or frugal administration, given their own regime of unvouched expenses. But if those entrusted with responsibility to ensure good governance and leadership fail in their responsibility, that is what you get.
Further Government action is expected to await the return of Tánaiste Mary Coughlan from a trade mission to Dubai. And while Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Dáil Mr Molloy had done the "honourable thing" by resigning, it is clear that mechanisms at both executive and board level, designed to prevent an abuse of public funds, did not function as intended. Mr Molloy came under intense Government pressure to resign when he defended spending amounting to more than half a million euro on trips to the US over four years. And while the issue was not central to matters being investigated, it raised questions about the role and efficiency of Fás and the high-handed and profligate behaviour of its executives. Having grown fat in good times, the State agency now faces a difficult future. People who depend on its training and apprenticeship courses need to be reassured that their interests come first.