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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR told the Dáil today that “mistakes were made” with his Strategic Communications Unit (SCU).
Varadkar came under fire during Leaders’ Questions when opposition parties called for the unit to be disbanded.
The unit has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks as a result of the fallout from a government advertising campaign around the Ireland 2040 National Planning Framework.
Questions were raised last week about how advertorials in newspapers were presented during the €1.5 million rollout of the plan.
The SCU headed up a sweeping strategy to promote the plan across traditional and online media.
The Ireland edition of The Times reported that regional newspapers were directed by an ad agency to ensure the ads appeared as regular news items.
Following on from this, Varadkar ordered a review of the operations of the SCU.
‘A distraction’
The Taoiseach admitted today that the debate around his communication’s unit was becoming a distraction.
I appreciate that the unit that I set up to better explain how Government works and what it does has now become a distraction from the work of Government. I appreciate that mistakes were made, that controls were too loose and as a result, problems arose.
During a heated exchange with the Taoiseach today, Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin said there is “nothing as grave or as fundamental as the independence of our civil service”.
He accused the Taoiseach of setting up his “spin unit” in order to grab the “good news”.
Hitting back at Martin, the Taoiseach said it said a lot about the opposition leader’s priorities that he is raising his communications unit following one of the worst storms Ireland has seen in 35 years.
He accused Martin of throwing around ”slurs” about civil servants working in his department.
“A lot of what the leader of the opposition has said has been personalised, it has been vituperative and it has even been venomous towards me and my staff, and towards some people in the Civil Service. I regret this is the tone that he has adopted, but he has. Deputy Martin has made a lot of allegations, based largely on innuendo and conspiracy theories,” he said.
It wasn’t just Fianna Fáil that had scathing words for the Taoiseach this afternoon. Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald also called for the unit to be shut down.
“I believe that the Taoiseach doth protest too much on this matter,” she said.
“This communications unit is now mired in scandal. The Taoiseach can rant and rave, he can point the finger and he can talk about conspiracy theories but that is now where it is at,” she added.
Varadkar also took issue with Martin stating on the radio yesterday and his department had concealed information from being released through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act – something he said is illegal and would not happen.
The Sunday Business Post reported at the weekend that it had to battle for information relating to the SCU to be released by the department. In the end, the decision was appealed to the Information Commissioner, who overturned the decision and released the documents.
The Taoiseach told the Dáil today that the law clearly states that civil servants decide what information should be permitted for release under the Act.
‘No conspiracy’
A government spokesperson doubled down on the Taoiseach’s position today, stating that while advisors to ministers would be informed about FOI requests, “it is not the case that their views would be sought”.
Clarifying the Taoiseach’s position, the government spokesperson said that “any suggestion that the government is up to some sort of grand conspiracy is categorically not the case”.
It is understood that Ministers Katherine Zappone, Denis Naughten and Shane Ross raised concerns with the Taoiseach last week – one day before the Taoiseach announced that a review of the unit would take place.
The Secretary General of the Department of An Taoiseach is undertaking the review which will conclude before Easter.
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They weren’t mistakes until he was caught. Even then he doesn’t want to acknowledge what in fact he as done. Using public money to politically advertise FG and himself.
@frank murphy: Funnt that Frank. You put up a hashtag, yet anyone clicking on your name finds your twitter is suspended. The only place you can really put your idiotic hashtag is up your ….
@Declan:
You should try muting him. It takes about a half an hour to weed out all his various bogus accounts!
@Dave Doyle: Yes, he’s been found out at last, the wheels are falling off the bus, not my leader, not a leader.
@Frank Cauldhame: When you fail in two ministeries, how can anyone even consider him to be capable of leading the country. All that concerns Leo is his image, and FG as a party are happy to be dragged along on his coat tails. That says a lot about FG.
Leo is so far up his own backside he believes his own lies.
he has no problem spending public money on advertising himself. Yet he begrudged giving pensioners the means to buy some heat in their homes during an unprecedented ice storm. He had to be shamed in the Dail to do it. No wonder he is so “concerned” about dead bodies been found in homes.
@Frank Cauldhame: Deny, deflect, blame a sub contractor, it is every body else’s fault except the one that setup this quango in the first place.
@Dave Doyle: dave you can rest easy knowing that we live in a country where such things are a scandal- in some countries even those ee have close links with share no such transparency.
@Dave Doyle: One would wonder what else is going on that they haven’t been caught out on.
@Dave Doyle: I do recommend to all the snowflakes a great movie called “The Edukators”. A brilliant example of the old adage, “If you are not a socialist when you are eighteen, you have no heart and if yo are still one when you are fifty you have no brain”. I await correction by the nasal retentive.
@Tom McHugh: So that excuses Leo, does it?
@Old Gabby Johnson: Not the only scandal as we know only to well. It seems since 2011 FG has lurched from one scandal to another. As for transparency, no such thing when the truth has to be dragged screaming and shouting to a tribunal. Even at that, as we have seen, the findings can be left to gather dust.
That country very close physically and linked by hundreds of years of history has some honour in public life. People walk when caught with their trousers down. Unlike the cesspool the Irish establishment has been for decades.
@Dave Doyle:
A scandal a day is the FG way
@Dave Doyle: two failed ministers who think they have the answers to everything. The best and brightest of FG, would indicate a seriously limited gene pool in that party.
A plan for 2040, when they can plan for 2018 !!!!
@Dave Doyle: not to mention dead bodies being found without a home
@frank murphy: #Shampagneforleo
@Tom McHugh: it was all going so well till you used the word snowflake
@Dave Doyle: hes such a cheat! Leo was shouting sorry at the top of his voice all through his term as minister of health and we still have the health crisis, now its sorry for blowing taxes on his pr promos, such a welfare cheat he cheats us all!
Should be at the forefront of the parade this year. The snake is showing his true colours.
@Sean O’ Donovan:
Just read that the Media Company hired by FG and their Senior civil servants was the same media company hired by Teresa May prior to the British General Election. The cost of the spin campaign was from the Tory funds.
Leo’s FG CSU spin/troll factory is being funded by the Irish taxpayer.
Their lies the CON.
‘Mistakes were made’—classic use of the passive voice to abrogate responsibility.
@Brendan O’Brien: Well said.
@Brendan O’Brien:
You and I pay for our mistakes. Lets hope Leo and his band of spivs pay at the ballot box.
@Brendan O’Brien: the only mistake that was made was that the public didn’t buy it. Next time it will be dressed up to seem more palatable. A spoonful of sugar for a digital age
Do we have another cast iron guarantee this little private operation will be shut down ,i will believe it when i see it leo .
Oh no not another peacocking politicking half assed attempt at being humble??! Say it ain’t so! Que the FFG fanatics claming he had no knowledge and is an honest person… smh
@Declan: Oh the Irish propaganda machine. Where does everyone get their news (and trust it)?
@Mollie K: well this isn’t a good place to start being one of major outlet pipes for Leo’s spin dryer as well as the puke and lies that come from AFP. If you sift through the comments here and disregard the trolls and party political bots you might pick up the odd shred of truth and real information for free. Its a bit like mining bitcoin though.
The default excuse for everything in this country “mistakes, FF made them, Labour made. It’s amazing that these people spend their lives trying to become politicians and when they get there they just make loads of “mistakes”.
@Oscar Scatters: What amazes me is we keep electing them……
@Kerry Blake: Don’t worry Kerry, Sinn Fein have enough people fooled into thinking they are an alternative.Then the day will come when Sinn Fein finish their first term in coalition and they’ll tell us about all the “mistakes” they made.
I’m getting ahead of myself there though, it’s the Independence Alliance’s turn next.
@Oscar Scatters: IT’s the only option we haven’t tried.. At least we will know for sure.. they may very well surprise us.. Repeating the same mistakes in voting every 5 years is idiocy.
Has to be said, FF /FG whichever party Charlie Haughy taught them all well.
Spin and waffle to beat the band.
Leo is admitting mistakes were made but obviously Leo is hoping that’s the end of it and nothing will change!
Leo’s alter ego — Mr Bean – strikes again !!
Leos slip is showing…if.he keeps it up he’ll outdo the mayo Muppet …as del boy says….what a plonker
Just an ego massaging trip for Leo payed for by us the tax payer.
The minister of Propaganda!
@Maurice Frazer: Like his other two ministries, he failed at that as well.
Whatever about this subject, I am absolutely pee’d off with the Disclosure Tribunal, this blooming McCabe thing is Never Never ending and well fed, fat Cat, legal Eagles belching all over the place with smiles as broad as Bank Vault Safe doors.
Mr varadkar was caught spending public funds to advertise the fg party.he is unfit to hold any office of goverment,let alone the office he does hold.country is being run by crooks.
We are the self preservation society……..
Sockys spin unit must have instructed most newspapers to ignore Noel Rocks disgraceful tweet in regards to Paul Murphy.https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/td-apologises-for-tweeting-tasteless-and-insensitive-image-about-tallaght-830719.html
@Stephen Grehan: Funny how the journal ignored that story, or the ones relating to FG bullying … now if it was the shinners, then it would be a different story.
The Mistakes were by Fine Gael when they elected sanctimonious Enda as leader, and ever worse when Leo was made Unelected leader of the country! All style, No substance ! And that’s an Understatement!
@Randal McNally: He lost the vote 35 to 65. Hardly Elected.
It takes a special kind of person to (amongst other things) be a failure at propaganda.
@Ian Oh: quiet – the FG Nazis will label you anti-Semitic for speaking out against the spin machine. That’s the line they spun on the journal last week.
@Ian Kavanagh: Oh sorry about that. All hail Dr Socks.
When the government are employing bull $h1t vendors, and still come across as totally inadequate to do any sort of a job for this country we are definitely in shtook
If it gets restructured correctly, and centralised the PR functions across the various departments and government agencies, it could actually save tens of millions annually.
@Honeybadger197: I’ll smoke whatever your smoking….
@Henry Matthews: Maybe research the total pr outlay from all government departments/agencies before you roll/ bowl up and blaze into the evening. :)
@Honeybadger197: quango! quango! quango!
@Honeybadger197: Difference was this was set up at a cost of €5 million to the tax payer to promote Leo………
@Kerry Blake: That’s a view certainly. I disagree.
@Honeybadger197: i would rather they got on with the job instead of spending taxpayers cash telling us how good a job they’re doing…..
@Honeybadger197: Didn’t they set up gov.ie already?
The final 2040 Plan should have been debated in the Dail first,that’s important part of Democracy.
Freedom of the press should surely be preserved in a Democracy and allowed to do proper analysis of news including Government policies or plans so that the public could find out what parts of plan previously announced,what parts commenced and what parts near completion (as Thomas Pringle said in Dail!) plus including all costs and projected costs,etc!
@Nuala Mc Namara: A plan for 2040, when they cant even plan for 2018. How funny is that.
@Henry Matthews: honeybadger197 ain’t smoking, he’s sucking
Eventually eventually eventually the people of this country will learn that those elected to represent us , only represent themselves. Those who run for election do so for the perks and pay packet and the opportunities they make for themselves to further there own lives.
Is it gone now to far to rip up the establishment- a new party with new people and a leader to believe in is needed – how far away from that are we- it’s ok u can cry now
Fair play to him holding his hands up. The sign of a true leader.
@Pat Bateman: Obviously not all controls have been tightened yet. You’re still going strong in the bot farm
@Pat Bateman: you forgot to put MASTER between pat and Bateman
@Pat Bateman: “The leader is good! The leader is great! We surrender our will as of this date.”
@Pat Bateman: Or puts his hands up to succumb to Merkle are Barnier. Surrender.
@Henry Matthews: Brilliant
@Pat Bateman: I will agree with you if he finally admits that the country has National emergencies in Homelessness Housing and Health. and sets up an EMERGENCY response group to URGENTLY tackle them adequately!
The people, families & children affected by these Emergencies can’t wait until 2040 for URGENT EFFECTIVE response!
Now that would be a sign of a true leader of the country!
@Nuala Mc Namara: The National Emergency Co Ordination Group &Gov Departments,etc shows it can be done very effectively!
@Nuala Mc Namara: NECG re Severe Weather!
@Pat Bateman: The sign of being caught.
@Dave Doyle: Listen Dave, we all make mistakes, that’s why they have rubbers on the tops of pencils.
How many times did he say Sec Gen today? Secretary General last time I heard. Infuriating.
No
N
Leo was shouting sorry at the top of his voice all through his term as minister of health and we still have the health crisis, now its sorry for blowing taxes on his pr promos, shuch a welfare cheat he cheats us all!
He as ke
But we don’t need an election.
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