Fás had proper control processes in place during the past decade but a failure to implement them properly exposed it to risk, the Comptroller & Auditor General, John Buckley, has concluded in his latest report on the training authority.
The report, which focuses on transactions at the authority's head office on Baggot Street, Dublin, and on its governance structures, found that the executive board of the authority was aware of overspends on advertising and promotion, but did not give this information to the board.
The financial information presented to the board was sufficient to allow it to identify variances from budget a programme level, but not to identify them below that level.
There have been a number of reports and inquiries into Fás over recent times arising from controversies mostly concerning spending by the authority's corporate affairs division.
Mr Buckley's report, published today, found hat the extended timescale in finalising the internal audit of that division meant that addressing deficiencies was delayed.
Controls in the €126 million competency development programme, a training and upskilling programme for employees funded by Fas in the period 2003 to 2008 are criticised in the report.
It said more than 90 per cent of the spending went to external training providers but the amount of monitoring of the quality of the training being provided was inappropriate and the extent to which participants "achieved certification" was not recorded.
The report found that the training agency spent €3 million on flights in the 2002 to 2008 period, without approximately €1 million of this being spent outside of approved procedure.
Compared with other public sector bodies, Fás used business class for a lower proportion of long haul flights, but for a higher proportion of short haul flights, the report found. First class flights were used in four instances.
More than a quarter of the flight costs arose from the Science Challenge Programme and more than €200,000 of this expenditure involved flights for non-Fás personnel, including flights by ministers and senior civil servants.
The inquiry also found instances of expenditure on golfing events, concert and match tickets, and associated hospitality, where there was no stated business purpose for the spending. It also found that controls over the use of credit cards were weak.
The special severance package given to the former Fás director general Rody Molloy exceeded by €76,422 the amount that should have been given to a chief executive whose contract was being terminated, and by €892,269 the amount that a comparable public servant would get if taking early retirement, according to the report.
With the exception of being allowed to keep his car, which was worth €20,000, the elements of the package were sanctioned by the Department of Finance and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, under Section 6(3) of the Labour Services Act, 1987, the report said.
