‘Your havin a Laugh’
Patricia Campbell, president of the IWU, leads protest
IWU shows what happens when cut backs are introduced
Lunch time protest against Belfast Health & Social Care Trust proposal to privatise certain services
Monday 14 December
Fairview Offices … Crumlin Road, Belfast (opposite Mater Hospital)
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FAS in difficulty again
Jack Cosgrave receives donation from Ger Fitzpatrick
In the latest major setback for the state training agency, FAS has finally complied with a severe penalty imposed on it by their own Client Services Commissioner, Prof Kieran Kennedy, over a year after the fine was decreed. Prof Kennedy imposed the maximum compensation possible against the agency following an investigation by him into the closure of a FAS funded Job Club in Cork City. In Dec 2004 FAS announced the closure of the Job Club claiming that it was not, in the view of its users, meeting the needs of its clients. They further claimed that the project was not meeting agreed target figures. Those running the Job Club successfully contested the claims, and proved that FAS had never consulted with the clients of the Job Club, and had retrospectively understated the actual figures of the Job Club to bring them under the agreed activity levels.
The Job Club Leader, Mr Gerard Fitzpatrick, commented, “We are delighted with our victory – it took five years, with FAS resisting and evading every step of the way. We still don’t why FAS closed the Job Club, we do not know why they invented the evidence to do so. If they had a reason we’d love to hear it, it’s a ridiculous waste of money to close something that’s so successful, without giving a second thought to those who were benefitting from the project”.
FAS ignored Prof Kennedy’s ruling for over a year, and only paid the fine of €10,000, after a campaign of sustained pressure. The money has been paid to a charity, the Cork Operative Butchers’ Benevolent Fund. Said Mr Fitzpatrick, “we’re sorry the maximum amount isn’t bigger, at least we know the charity will not be using it on first class tickets. It feels good to give FAS a deserved carving and a roasting. I really think as an organisation it is beyond redemption and ought to be disbanded. A culture of arrogance and entitlement has taken root there and ironically it is they who are not meeting the needs of their clients, the taxpayer or the state. FAS is beyond saving”.
In Prof Kennedy’s ruling, FAS were also castigated for failing to respond to correspondence from the complainants. Ironically, they proceeded to ignore Prof Kennedy’s judgement for over a year, and three successive Director Generals were appealed to in vain until the victorious claimants appealed directly to the Tanaiste’s office.
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President comments on NHS cutbacks
