GREEN PARTY leader John Gormley has said it is up to Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan to decide whether the directors of Fás should be sacked, but repeated his call on the board to resign.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen refused to be drawn on Mr Gormley’s call and said Ms Coughlan would deal with the issue.
Mr Gormley, who was in Athlone, Co Westmeath, yesterday to attend a Green parliamentary party meeting, said any question of dismissing the Fás board over the disclosures about overspending on advertising was a matter for Ms Coughlan.
“I do believe that the board has an onus now to resign and it is up now to my colleague, the Tánaiste, to take that forward,” he said.
Mr Gormley noted Fás director-general Paul O’Toole would appear at the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts on September 24th, and commented: “We’ll have to wait and see what is said at that stage, but certainly it is my view and I think it is a view that is reflected amongst the general public as well that they ought to resign.”
Asked whether Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue should also resign, given the level of expenses he incurred in his former role as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr Gormley said: “I understand that he is going to contact the party leaders about this matter and I’m more than happy to listen to what he says at that stage.”
He said anybody who had been a Minister would know that sometimes arrangements are made without the knowledge of the Minister, and this would need to be looked at, along with the issue of parliamentary expenses.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore called on Ms Coughlan to dismiss the Fás board and accused her of adopting a passive approach to the running of the training organisation.
Mr Gilmore described as extraordinary a statement on Thursday from Ms Coughlan that it was not up to her to dictate to the board of Fás, but that she would accept a letter of resignation from its board of directors.
She had been commenting on the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Buckley, which found excessive and repeated overspending by the agency on advertising.
“She is the Minister responsible for that agency, she is the Minister for the hiring and firing of the board; if she has lost the confidence of the board to the extent that she will accept a letter of resignation from them, then she should follow the logic of that and dismiss them,” said Mr Gilmore.
Commenting on Mr Gormley’s call for the Fás board to resign, Mr Gilmore said he had made such a call last November when revelations of excessive spending first emerged, but more was now required than just resignations.
“I don’t think we can deal with the problem in Fás just by the board standing down or a few heads rolling.
“I think there is a need now for a much much closer examination of what was going on here,” said Mr Gilmore during a visit to Cork city.
“There are clear provisions in the legislation governing Fás for ministerial oversight of what Fás was doing, and it seems to me that that wasn’t adequately exercised by a number of Ministers in the lifetime of the Fianna Fáil government,” he said.
Mr Gilmore said that he made no distinction between trade union members of the Fás board and non-trade union members.
He said everyone on the board who failed to properly monitor and control the agency’s spending should either resign or be sacked.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen refused to be drawn on Mr Gormley’s call for the board to resign and said the issue would be dealt with by Ms Coughlan, who is bringing forward new legislation governing how Fás operates.
“A major change is to take place in Fás in terms of both its operation and the composition of its board.
“A bill is being published in the forthcoming weeks to do that and the transition to the new board therefore will be a matter which has to take place as a priority,” he said.
BOARD MEMBERS
THE 17-MEMBER board of Fás is appointed by the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment. The present board was appointed in January 2006, and is scheduled to run until December 2010. The board comprises representatives from the business sector, trade unions, social groups, Government departments including the Department of Education, Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment, and Fás employees. A spokesman for Ibec said yesterday that Danny McCoy stepped down from the board of Fás when he was appointed to the role of director general of Ibec in June, leaving 16 members. No board members would comment yesterday when contacted by The Irish Times SUZANNE LYNCH
PETER McLOONE, Chairman
General secretary of Impact trade union and chairman of Ictu’s Public Services Committee
TRADE UNION REPRESENTATIVES
DES GERAGHTY
President of Siptu 1994 to 2002
OWEN WILLS
General Secretary of the Technical, Engineering Electrical Union. Also member of the executive council of Ictu
ALICE PRENDERGAST
Former president of Teachers’ Union of Ireland
SALLY ANNE KINAHAN
Assistant general secretary of Ictu since 2003
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVES
DEIRDRE SHANLEY
Representative of Minister for Social and Family Affairs. Principal officer at the Department of Social and Family Affairs in the Employment Support Services division
DERMOT NOLAN
Representative of Minister for Finance On leave from position as principal officer in the Sectoral Policy Division of the Department of Finance
ANNE FORDE
Representative of Minister for Education and Science. Principal officer in the higher education sector at the Department of Education and Science
DERMOT MULLIGAN
Representative of Minister for Education, Trade and Employment. Assistant secretary, Department of Enterprise Trade Employment
EMPLOYER REPRESENTATIVES
NIALL SAUL
Former group head of HR at Irish Life and Permanent for 10 years. Previously HR director at Waterford Crystal
JENNY HAYES
Head of Management and Training, Ibec
BRIAN KEOGH
Director, John Sisk Co, construction contractors
YOUTH REPRESENTATIVE
JAMES O'LEARY
Former president of the National Youth Council of Ireland. Currently CEO of the National Association of Travellers Centres
CAROLINE CASEY
Representative of Minister for Education, Trade and Employment: Founder of Kanchi, formerly the Aisling Foundation. A former management consultant, Ms Casey has a visual impairment and is registered as legally blind
FÁS EMPLOYEES
FRANK WALSH
Fás employee, Dublin: manager in the Services to Business division
MARGARET MERNAGH
Fás employee, Tralee: employer services officer
