Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the journalists Ms Ellen Coyne of The Times, Ireland edition, and Mr. Hugh O'Connell of TheSunday Business Postfor pursuing this issue. In particular, Ms Coyne's article was described as inaccurate reportage by the Taoiseach, but I think it was subsequently largely accepted by him as being accurate. They shone a light on this issue when, by its actions in terms of FOI requests and so on, the Government was eager for a light not to be shone on it. Mediaforce was acting on behalf of the strategic communications unit. I am not saying the strategic communications unit knew about this thing, but mediaforce was acting on its behalf. Correspondence between Mediaforce and newspaper editors stated part of its deal with the Government was that copy would not include a label similar to an advertorial, that the sponsored content should look like editorial, that journalists were told to give Government copy a local angle and that if they did a good job, there would be "more to come on Brexit". That was a communication that went to a series of publications, many of which were under financial strain and some of which were in the same ownership group as Mediaforce, which the Taoiseach accepted was problematic.