Graduates have as much right to FAS services as anybody else, but what can it do for recent graduates who can't get a job and those made redundant this year?

Redundancy

The authority has been compared to the labour market equivalent of a Swiss Army knife, which has multiple functions. One of these involves running start-your-own business training, which would be of interest to at least some graduates.

Pooling expertise acquired in college with practical experience gained by others who have lost their jobs in the marketplace could be a winner. So too could specific skills training in areas like IT, where a qualification still helps secure employment.

But the biggest problem facing graduates, or any school leaver, will be securing a foothold on the jobs ladder.

Some third-level courses have well-run work experience elements, but many graduates leave college with no real knowledge of the world of work. FAS is expected to open up discussions with employers and other potential partners on filling that expertise gap for graduates.

{module Island Banners|xhtml} It already has a little-known, but very successful, scheme of placing graduates in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, who have come back to Ireland with skills that are being used to good effect in hi-tech companies here.

It also runs the more high-profile and controversial science challenge programme, which places graduates not just in hi-tech companies but in prestigious universities in the US. The programme has been criticised for what the Committee of Public Accounts sees as excessive spending on travel by FAS executives and spouses, ministers and journalists. Its supporters, including renowned American scientists, want the central elements retained, as they may well be under a different State agency.

Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, FAS has its work cut out for itself. Realistically what it can do for the predicted 70,000 unemployed is limited but it will help some get into or back into the labour market.


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