Two private contractors who provided courses for State training agency FÁS have been referred to the gardaí for possible fraud.
The director general of FÁS, Paul O'Toole, also confirmed today that 230 people are awaiting training course certificates in the north-east for more than a year. 157 of these are due to receive their certificates in the coming weeks but Mr O'Toole described the situation as unacceptable.
These cases are not included in a review of courses run by private contractors for FÁS published today. The review found that in 14% of privately-run courses, participants had to resit their exams, be retrained or have their results reassessed. Of the 718 learners affected, the results stood for 526.
The review also found that in three courses run by two contractors, there was serious manipulation of results and inappropriate assistance to students Five other unacceptable cases outside the review have also been identified. The problems were identified across four regions.
FÁS says it has taken steps to correct problems which arose and has introduced new measures to tighten assessment procedures.
It says there will be a new system to upgrade training standards, with more frequent monitoring, while new contracts will include 'more robust' sanctions for non-compliance. FÁS also plans to bring in a revised tender framework and a new assessment marking scheme.
