"FAS is both under-appreciated and over-used by the Irish State"

Mar 14, 2005

FAS's role in contributing to the current positive economic climate has been underestimated, according to a report launched today. Since its inception, FAS has developed into a highly flexible, multi-functional instrument used by the Irish state to address a myriad of policy problems from hi-tech skill shortages to functional illiteracy. So states the study ‘FAS and Active Labour Market Policy 1985-2004’ by Professor Nigel Boyle, launched by Senator Mary O’Rourke at Trinity College's Policy Institute.

The study argues that FAS has fundamentally reshaped the architecture of the Irish welfare state. In the absence of alternative mechanisms, FAS remains the key instrument used by the state to tackle policy problems ranging from under-investment in training by Irish employers to social exclusion. However, the study also suggests that the state’s reliance on ‘quick-fix’ solutions generated by FAS may have inhibited efforts at more fundamental policy reform of education and social policy in other government departments.

The report notes criticisms of FAS from the education, employers and community sectors. It argues that such criticism is often justified insofar as, for example, employers have been manipulated into paying for an apprenticeship system that FAS controls while under the framework of the Community Employment scheme, and community organisations have been manipulated into becoming employment/training organisations, increasingly detaching them from their original purposes. Nevertheless, the study notes that FAS and its activities enjoy widespread support amongst elected politicians. FAS is supremely well adapted to the highly responsive nature of Irish electoral politics, the report argues. Whilst institutional analysis such as that presented in this paper cannot provide specific policy recommendations, two key issues are highlighted for consideration by policymakers:

1. In the absence of radical institutional change within the Irish public sector, institutions such as FAS provide an effective, if not optimal, means of addressing policy problems.

2. FAS is well adapted to the ideological, fiscal, and clientelistic realities of Irish politics. In the absence of other mechanisms to address policy problems ranging from labour market to education and social exclusion issues, it appears that FAS will continue to play an important role in addressing these policy issues.

The study is the 17th in the series 'Studies in Public Policy' published by Trinity's Policy Institute. The series aims to bridge the gap between the academic and professional policy communities and to make a real difference to public policy debate in Ireland.