DIRECTORS AND staff of State employment agency Fás will be obliged to declare conflicts of interest if a Bill to be published tomorrow becomes law.
Revelations of overspending at the agency have sparked a series of controversies over the last year. Its former director general, Rody Molloy, stood down in November in a row over €643,000 that Fás spent on foreign travel for executives. It has since emerged that he received a €1 million pension from the State.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, will tomorrow publish legislation ahead of the Dáil’s return obliging Fás executives and staff to declare conflicts of interest they have in proposed contracts or arrangements involving the organisation.
The law will also ban them from taking part in any negotiation of a contract or arrangement relating to any matter where they have a conflict of interest.
It will preclude them from any deliberation within Fás on the matter, which means that they will not be allowed to take part in meetings on such matters, or to vote on them. Directors who contravene the legislation will be sacked, while workers who do so will face dismissal or demotion.
Last month, State spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), published a report criticising the spending of €48 million by Fás on advertising and promotion between 2002 and 2008.
Investigations are under way into specific incidents of overspending, including a probe into more than €600,000 spent by Fás for which the C&AG said there was “no evidence of goods or services having been provided”.
It emerged late last month that a file on one investigation has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The agency’s chairman, Peter McLoone, resigned last Thursday. The remaining board members have indicated that they intend to stand down when the legislation that the Tánaiste is introducing, the Labour Services (Amendment) Bill, becomes law.
The law will also cut the size of the board from 17 to 11 and will make it more accountable to the taxpayer. In addition, it will take into account recommendations made by the C&AG.
Ms Coughlan is also planning to include provisions protecting whistleblowers within the organisation. It is understood that she wants to restore public confidence in the organisation, and to change its culture. The Tánaiste wants the proposals to send a “clear signal of change”, both to Fás itself and to taxpayers.
The controversy at Fás led to heavy criticism of Ms Coughlan. She has said that her primary goal is to get to the bottom of what happened at the agency and to change it so that it carries out its work efficiently and with full accountability to the taxpayer.
