FÁS expenses motion defeated in Dáil

A Labour Party motion seeking board changes in FÁS, as well as strict accountability for its spending, has been rejected in the Dáil by 79 votes to 72.

During the debate, Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said FÁS had lavishly entertained journalists and spent a lot of money on advertising, in order to buy the silence of the media.

He said Ministers had done much the same by giving preferential treatment on foreign travel to journalists.

Mr Varadkar said he was glad that silence had ended, as a real cleanout was needed.

He said he did not blame the Tánaiste for what had gone on in FÁS but he did blame her predecessors, Ministers Mary Harney and Micheál Martin.

However, he said the Tánaiste had wanted the FÁS problems to go away and had been prepared to give pension top-ups and even a car, to make that happen.

Fianna Fáil's Margaret Conlon said FÁS had blown part of its budget and she wondered, how could a car go missing and how could they have made an ad, but had never broadcast it.

She suggested that Rody Molloy, the former director general of FÁS, should pay back the monies he had been given.

While Labour's Ruairi Quinn told the Dáil that the senior civil servants in various Government departments must be held to account for what had gone on in FÁS.

Mr Quinn told Minister of State Billy Kelleher that the Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise must be asked to explain what he did about what had gone on in FÁS.

He said that Department and the Departments of Finance, Education and Social Affairs all had representatives on the Board. The point of having them there was to act as watchdog, he said.

Deputy Quinn said senior civil servants needed to answer hard questions on this issue.

Labour's Roisin Shortall, winding up the debate, said FÁS executives had 'lost the run of themselves' and no-one had shouted stop.

She asked why Government approval had not been sought for the severance package for the former director general and whether this lack of approval had been raised by Department of Finance officials.

Deputy Shortall also asked - who had sanctioned the giving of the company car to Mr Molloy.