The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, has been criticised by the unemployed for not appointing a representative of the jobless to the new board of FAS. The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed said it was an insult.
Ms Harney announced yesterday that Mr Patrick Lynch, the Irish Shell Ltd managing director, would chair the board, which also includes union, employer and youth interests, as well as civil servants.
The INOU chairman, Mr Paul Billings, said the failure to involve an unemployed person in such a critical area undermined commitments to inclusivenesss.
While employers, civil servants, union and youth representatives might all contribute,AS operates, "the people who can give the most effective feedback are those who enter the doors of FAS offices every day and those who are on waiting lists for FAS training for months on end.
"Furthermore, the Government's plan to take the training of people already in work away from FAS and hand it over to Forbairt gives even greater weight to an argument for unemployed representation on the board of FAS, now that the agency may exclusively serve an unemployed clientele."