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AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA spent over €90,000 in just five months on media training for the service’s personnel.
The Garda hierarchy has engaged the services of the Dublin-based Communications Clinic, a media relations consultancy firm utilised by everyone from politicians to jobseekers, since September 2014, initially on an ad hoc basis.
Documents released to TheJournal.ie under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Communications Clinic was engaged by the gardaí in September 2015 to aid in the force’s media relations.
That contract was awarded after a public procurement process.
The initial dealings between the two entities saw €800 paid to the Communications Clinic in September 2014 for training of the then new Garda press officer.
That position became vacant following the transfer of whistleblower Superintendent David Taylor, who had been head of the Garda press office, to the Garda traffic division in June 2014 following allegations he had leaked information concerning a childcare matter to the media (Taylor was cleared by the Director of Public Prosecutions of any wrongdoing this month following a 22-month suspension in relation to the same matter).
Thereafter, far larger payments for services between the two began in December 2015, three months after the contract was awarded, with €10,400 paid in that month.
Between June and November 2016 €92,955 was paid to the Communications Clinic.
The contract for the media training programme won by the Communications Clinic was for a “media training programme for senior officers and managers (which) enables An Garda Síochána to provide more spokespeople to the media in order to keep the public informed about how An Garda Síochána prevents and tackles crime” a Garda spokesperson told TheJournal.ie.
The spokesperson added that over 100 such senior Garda personnel have received such training to date.
To date in 2017 €9,533 has been paid to the Communications Clinic by the gardaí, giving a grand total of €113,688 paid out for media training for the force in the past two-and-a-half years.
Profit
The PR firm headed by broadcaster and columnist Anton Savage has reported accumulated profits of more than €700,000 in accounts just filed to the Companies Office.
The Communications Clinic is co-owned by the former Today FM presenter and his parents, Terry Prone and Tom Savage.
Accounts filed to the Companies Office last week show that accumulated profits at the firm increased by 10% to €709,289 during the financial year to the end of March 2016.
It had a cash balance of €575,128 and was owed €400,912 by debtors of the firm, according to the accounts. A total of €284,100 remained payable to creditors – €135,715 of which related to taxation.
Savage and his parents all worked for Carr Communications before setting up the Communications Clinic in 2008. They each own around 26% of the company, amounting to almost 79% of its shares.
With reporting by Darragh McDonagh
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Get ready for a slower phone and a battery that drains faster
So you’re saying it’s worth getting then, Ted?
Don’t upgrade if you don’t want to.
well iphones are significantly faster than any android phone already so don’t let that be an issue. Battery life loss with software updates is less of a problem recently because new updates aren’t doing too much new processing intensive stuff. if you have a iphone 6 or later there’s no reason not to upgrade that i can think of. That being said there isn’t much reason to upgrade either. I’m still rocking an iphone 4s which suits me fine.
Iphones are faster *pfft* lies
I’ve been on iOS 10 for 5 days now (last beta version) on iPhone 5s
Have to say, upgrade was smooth, no issues. Did another reboot when done to be sure.
It’s performing smoothly, seems faster (same apps installed, same space used that I had before)
The new features are good … so far no regrets and battery is as good as it was before if not better…
Gone Feisin. It seems you are on the wrong forum for that sort of comment. It’s not a place for real geeks.
‘Note that we said remove instead of delete. They’re still saved onto your phone – all of Apple’s stock apps take up roughly 150MB’
So…it just hides them, they still take up space.
Just let folk delete them!
Wait till 10.1
Always, early adoption is a guinea-pig’s errand
Has there been ANY resolution on the Power-Display issue? One second your display shows 70% power, the next it’s 14% and you’re getting a ‘Low Power’ warning, unbelievable they’ve not yet resolved it.
Thanks God I still have a 4s.
The best iPhone in my humble opinion. Perfect size to fit snugly into the hand.
Wish I still had my 4S.
Seems some devices are getting bricked. Apple advice is to be sure and have iTunes handy …
Solution
If you still see the Connect to iTunes screen after you restart, you need to reinstall iOS:
Connect your device to your computer using the cable that came with your device. You should see this message: “The software on [your device name] needs to be restored to factory settings or updated.”
Click Update to reinstall iOS. Your personal data is preserved.
It appears to be bringing bricking as a major feature update…not sure if this is a bad thing.
iBrick is a key feature in Apple’s update’s — or asking users to plug their iOS device into a PC.
I want the updates, but I also want to know if my iPhone will become an unusable brick afterwards! Isn’t there an “undo” button somewhere? Help me Steve Jobs!
How do you delete apps now with iOS 10?
I have a 6s and it won’t delete them???
have your say