Vol. 451 No. 8
230 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the progress, if any, which has been made in relation to establishing a FÁS Users Council; if the terms of reference of the proposed Council or the composition of it has yet been agreed; the time scale envisaged in establishing the Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7724/95]
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that preliminary discussions have taken place between my Department and FÁS and also between FÁS and certain representative bodies about possible approaches that would give FÁS clients a greater say in the organisation's programmes and services.
Among the issues which need to be determined are whether any new arrangement should be centrally or regionally based and whether one set of arrangements would be appropriate given the diverse range of clients that use FÁS services. In this regard account will be taken of the relevant recommendations made recently by the National Economic and Social Forum in its Report No. 6 "Quality Delivery of Social Services". I hope to be in a position to announce a decision regarding the matter in the near future.
