Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, I send my condolences and those of my party to and express solidarity with all those who lost loved ones or are fighting for their lives, injured or affected in any way by the appalling events in Las Vegas.

Since taking office, concerns have been raised that the Government prioritises spin over substance. In recent weeks there has been some evidence to give weight to such fears. First, there was the creation of the new strategic communications unit, with an assistant secretary level head and a staff of five members. Incidentally, since the creation of the new unit no press releases have been posted on the Taoiseach's departmental website. We then began to hear about a principal officer-level vacancy being created to head up the communications functions in individual Departments, although it is unclear, so far, how many such individual posts have been created. Together, these changes represent a very significant taxpayer investment in Government communications. The Taoiseach formally told the House that the investment in communications would be cost neutral, but that is only true if the vacancies in question are filled at the expense of other areas of the Civil Service and the public service. It is time that the Taoiseach provided clarity on the number of positions he is creating and the total cost involved.

The creation of these new public sector jobs was a story and in recent weeks we have see two more stories which cause some concern. The first was the publication of a tender by the Taoiseach's Department, valued at €130,000, plus VAT, each year, for commissioning tracking polls. All political parties invest in tracking polls or polls of some sort to test the public mood on issues, but with this tender it seems that Fine Gael wants to shift the burden away from the party onto the taxpayer. When we were in government, we commissioned research after individual referendum results, but we published the results. I have two questions. First, will the Taoiseach commit to publishing the results of any tracking poll paid for from the public purse? Second, will he set out, in full, the cost of the communications unit and the staff members he is putting in place?

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