Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was some surprise on the announcement of the budget yesterday at the allocation of €5 million for the new strategic communications unit. It is not an insignificant sum of money when contrasted with for €3 million for DEIS schools and €2.5 million for the Irish language as well as other needy causes I could mention which required some extra allocation. In reply to a parliamentary question which I tabled some time ago, the Taoiseach said that the purpose of the strategic communications unit was, among other things, to make it easier for people to understand what is happening. The homeless children about whom Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke are acutely aware of their status relative to their peers at school. They know what is happening. Families of children who are waiting for scoliosis operations know what is happening. Children awaiting assessment and their families know what is happening. The Government cannot erase these realities of life with a spanking new strategic communications unit.

I have a number of issues with the unit, including its cost and the potential politicisation of the public service. The Taoiseach stated in reply to me here some time ago that he came up with the idea and appointed the head of the unit, an established civil servant, without any public competition. I was told originally that there would be two staff members and that it would be separate from the Government Information Service as a stand-alone unit within the Department of the Taoiseach. We now learn that as it evolves, it will co-ordinate and run the show across the board in terms of the entire edifice of communications from Departments and State agencies. Most people looking at this from a distance see it for what it is, namely, a propaganda unit designed to sell a political message on behalf of the Government. It is not in any shape or form about objective Government strategic communications.

Can the Taoiseach explain why Mr. Concannon was not appointed through the rules governing special advisers which are used in other cases when an established civil servant is being appointed to a role by a member of Government? Can he also explain why his deputy was not appointed through the rules governing special advisers? Can he indicate how this unit will not be politicised when the blurring of the lines has already occurred at its inception? The appointment of the head was a political act by the Taoiseach. While we understand the Taoiseach's obsession with communications, important issues arise here about the politicisation of our Civil Service which must be avoided at all costs. The manner of the establishment of this unit undermines that principle.

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