Labour's education spokesman Ruairí Quinn has called on the Tánaiste and Minister for Education Mary Coughlan to publish her plans for a new State training agency to replace Fás.
Ms Coughlan told the Dáil yesterday she intends to replace Fás with the new agency early next year.
Fás, which has an annual budget of €1 billion, has been dogged by a series of scandals regarding spending controls and the running of training courses.
Speaking during a two-day Dáil debate on the economy, Ms Coughlan said: “It is my intention that in the New Year, we will see a renewed and freshly-mandated training agency assume the training work of Fás.”
“Our focus on quality in the past has served us well but we do need to do more,” she said.
This morning Mr Quinn welcomed the announcement saying the “credibility amongst the public and confidence in the Fás brand has really just evaporated”.
However, he said Ms Coughlan needs to provide more details on her plan as soon as possible.
“To announce this decision without any plan, without any timetable, no indication of the how the VEC sector will link in with the new skills agency really is going to do a lot of damage in my view.”
"That uncertainty is going to undermine the credibility of existing courses, its going to undermine the confidence of the public and finally its going to seriously damage the motivation and moral of the staff," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.