Validation in up to 15 Fás courses under review
The director general of the beleaguered State training agency, Paul O’Toole, said yesterday it was examining the certification and assessment process of between 10 and 15 courses after it emerged results had been falsified in several other courses.
Mr O’Toole said these courses were run by a different contractor than the company at the centre of a similar controversy over standards and certification which broke out earlier this week.
The case was highlighted by local Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd, who revealed that four of seven computer courses run by the firm were “corrupted” as certificates were falsely awarded to students who had failed to obtain the pass rate.
Mr O’Toole explained that problems with some courses run by this contractor were identified in 2007 but the firm was allowed to continue to run other courses which had proven “perfectly satisfactory”.
However, the Fás chief said the contractor was no longer running any courses for the agency since last April .
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan has ordered Fás to recoup money from the contractor.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr O’Toole said Fás would make efforts to get the money back but he also accepted that the agency would face “an uphill battle” in the matter.
Although €900,000 had been paid to the company for the provision of courses, Mr O’Toole said it was only seeking repayment of between €42,000 and €190,000.
However, he stressed that Fás’s own internal monitoring procedures had identified the problems. “Fás discovered the issue and dealt with it,” he said.
Mr O’Toole said the primary concern of the agency was in helping unemployed people to acquire new skills. He claimed the latest controversies should be seen against the background that Fás runs around 1,500 courses for over 100,000 students every year.
However, Mr O’Dowd, said he was appalled that Fás had continued to engage the contractor who had overseen the falsification of certificates until last April.
The Louth TD expressed concern that millions of euro of taxpayers’ money were being wasted by Fás.
Referring to the scandal over pay and expenditure by senior Fás managers, Mr O’Dowd said it seemed that the agency was “rotten at the top and now it looks like it’s rotten at the bottom as well.”
Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan expressed concern that the fabrication of results could have ramifications for the reputation of workers who had obtained certificates from Fás at home and abroad.
Speaking during a visit to Co Tipperary, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said taxpayers’ money should be recouped: “Internal audits at Fás are showing up issues that have to be addressed. Any recoverable monies to the State should be pursued.”
