The board of Fás is satisfied that steps have been taken to “plug the leaks” that gave rise to problems in the corporate affairs division, outlined in an internal audit report last year, chairman of the body Peter McLoone said today.
Mr McLoone was answering questions before the Public Accounts Committee.
Questioned by Darragh O’Brien of Fianna Fáil on whether the “belt-and-braces” procedures the committee had been assured had been put in place were operational, Mr McLoone said they were.
“Yes, the board is satisfied that since it received the [internal audit report in December 2007] we are plugging the leaks that gave rise to these problems,” he said.
He said steps had already been taken by the board to deal with the problems in the corporate affairs division earlier this year, before the details of the INV137 internal audit report and other information came into the public domain.
A report by the audit committee was currently being prepared for the board and would be presented later this month or in early January, he added.
In an opening statement, Mr McLoone told the committee the current board, appointed in January 2006, would take responsibility for the governance of the organisation since 2006.
In addition, it would “take responsibility for our handling of past shortcomings that have come to light during our term of office, even if we were not responsible for the shortcomings themselves”.
He continued: “In the past there has been poor management of some Fás resources, and in some instances there has been unacceptable waste of those precious resources. This vast bulk of the wasteful practices that have emerged were confined to one section of the Fas organisation - corporate affairs - and the management took steps to uncover and end those practices.”
“As chairman of Fás, I want to acknowledge the anger and in some cases the hurt that this has caused among those who use, deliver and pay for the crucial services that Fas provides.”
He said he wanted to stress that “while such waste took place and was unacceptable, this is not typical of the general approach of the overwhelming majority of those involved in Fás.
“It is not and has not been a feature of the vast majority of Fás activity and expenditure and we have taken measures to ensure that it does not happen again.”
Mr McLoone said that by March of this year, the board had overseen the introduction of sufficient controls into the corporate affairs division to ensure there could be no repetition of those events.
But in the latter part of this year, when the details of past events became public, it quickly became evident that “public confidence in Fás was rapidly evaporating, that staff morale was being seriously undermined, and that the ability of the organisation to keep focused on the needs of ever-increasing numbers of unemployed people was seriously jeopardised”.
He said this was why he had met the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan last September to get agreement to send an external person into Fás to carry out a comprehensive review of the organisation and its management practices. He understood the investigation by the C&AG, requested by the Tánaiste, would not happen until the PAC completed its hearings.
Mr McLoone said the “earliest possible commencement” of the C&AG inquiries was vital in order to enable Fás to move forward.
The Fás chairman said the C&AG would be able to examine “every document at Fás headquarters” and talk to every member of management. He believed the C&AG report would give the committee fuller information than is currently available, in order to complete its proceedings.
Mr McLoone said the staff of Fás performed “sterling work on the ground”.
“What the staff need now is the leadership, direction and management practices that they deserve. The Fás board and I are determined to make this happen as soon as possible.”
Chairman of the committee Bernard Allen told Mr McLoone there was an implication in his remarks that the PAC investigation was holding up the inquiry by the C&AG. He said this was not the case.
“We are obliged to carry out our investigation and are doing so with all the speed and efficiency we can muster,” he said.
Mr Allen said the PAC inquiry had been delayed by the late arrival of Fás documents and also the arrival of documents that were “censored or redacted”.
“We will come to a conclusion when we feel we have our job done and that will be as quickly as possible,” Mr Allen said.