THE NUMBER of senior managers at Fás increased from 170 to 290 in the course of 11 years, according to information made public yesterday.
The figures for the years 1997 to 2009 also show the total pay bill for management at the State employment and training agency rose by 77 per cent in the course of a decade.
By December 2009, the average salary for management was more than €80,000. The information was contained in a response to a parliamentary question tabled by Fine Gael TD George Lee, who said that the rate of increase in the number of managers was 10 times that of ordinary staff. He also contended management pay rose 100 per cent faster.
“In 1997, Fás had one manager for every 11 members of non-management staff. But, by 2009, there was one manager for every seven non-management staff.
“Why did Fás need to expand its management team by 71 per cent, when its non-management workforce increased by just 7.5 per cent?” he asked.
“There was clearly less work to be done and many Irish companies were recruiting staff from abroad because they couldn’t find staff within Ireland,” said Mr Lee.
The Dublin South deputy asked for explanations for what he called a “massive increase in Fás management numbers and a massive increase in the pay bill”.
Last night, Fás responded to the figures by saying that most of the increases were due to what it said was a “one-step increase from a senior staff grade to assistant manager as part of a major restructuring”. A spokeswoman said management grades make up some 13 per cent of total staff and had to be viewed in the context of the very wide responsibilities of the organisation.