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

While the clear abuse evident in the launch of the national development plan brought this controversy to a head, the reality is that all of the unit's work serves the same goal. The squalid reality is that the Government has sought to use public money to compromise the boundary between public information and propaganda. We have seen that revealed with a Minister sitting at her desk deciding how much money should be given to individual media outlets. When the ever-changing justifications for the unit are reviewed, using the information withheld from the Dáil but obtained by freedom of information, the truth is that every justification has been disproven.

It has been claimed that the unit is about streamlining Government communications and saving public money. The facts show this is nonsense. When the Taoiseach sought €5 million for this year's budget, the Department of Finance asked that this be subject to other Departments reducing their advertising budgets by this amount to prove the savings. The Taoiseach rejected this and insisted on the full extra budget.

It has also been claimed that the public is confused because there are so many different public bodies advertising and that a single unified identity is required to address this. Again, the documents released under freedom of information show a different picture. There is no evidence whatsoever of the public having such a concern and there is no evidence supporting the aggressive branding of stories with a new Government of Ireland identity. In fact, the research commissioned last December actually sought information on whether the public is confused and what is understood as representing the Government. That research has not been published, nor had it been produced before any campaign had started.

It has also been claimed this unit is required to provide public information. This is transparent nonsense because the unit only provides information on the political priorities of the Government. It only provides information which is positive and distances the Government from anything that is negative. This is why there is a situation where the Government of Ireland advertises an increase in the minimum wage, which was actually decided on by the Low Pay Commission established by the Oireachtas. However, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment advertises a request that people pay their television licences.

The unit is also cherry-picking official statistics to promote. In the nine months since its establishment, the unit has never once drawn attention to a statistic, fact or action which suggests there are any problems in our country. Is that not staggering? Since the unit was established, homelessness is up by an astonishing 15%. Today, there are more than 3,200 homeless children. However, according to the Government, this is not something people want to know about.

A further claim for the unit is that it is really not that different from what everyone has been doing for years. We are supposed to believe we need a radical expansion and centralisation in staffing and funding to do more of the same. This is, of course, ridiculous. No one has attempted to direct all Government resources into a relentless attempt to brand and sell a political narrative. No one has ever tried to take an approach once limited to rare initiatives and embed it in daily ongoing activity, which this unit is doing.

It has been claimed that the unit is needed to move Ireland up the United Nations eGovernment rankings to the same level as the United Kingdom. It is claimed as part of this that a single branding and unified web portal are simply international best practice.

However, when one takes the time to check, the reality is very different. The United Nations e-government report shows the biggest difference between us and the United Kingdom is actually the availability of broadband. The Government's record on this issue is one of its signature failures. There is no independent evidence supporting the idea that the United Kingdom's approach is best practice or appropriate to a country of Ireland's size and its governance structures.

It has been claimed, of course, that there is no political agenda or inappropriate attempt to influence the media. As we have said many times before, we support the idea of the Government supporting a strong and independent indigenous media at both local and national level. What we strongly oppose, however, is the idea of it being politicised through linking it with promoting a political agenda and highly questionable procedures for allocating funding. Documents reveal that the head of the strategic communications unit has met the most senior personnel in the print and broadcast media. I accept that journalists have not been involved and influenced by these discussions. However, the fact is that privileged briefings have been given to some outlets and some non-Government individuals, but no such briefings have been made available to the Oireachtas. In fact, the Taoiseach's staff fought the release of information up to the level of the Information Commissioner. It is a point of extreme concern that the documents reveal in freedom of information requests that allocations for advertising Creative Ireland, a priority of the unit, were personally decided by a Minister.

On the Taoiseach's accusation that we have been slandering people, he is the one who has led this from the beginning. He is the one who has asked civil servants to promote political priorities with an unprecedented marketing campaign. He is the one who has failed to be open with the Dáil. He is the one who calculated falsely that the hope of an advertising windfall would stop the story from gaining traction in the media. He is the one who is happy to have the unit promote a launch in his constituency. If the Government simply wants to improve the communication of non-political information, why did it refuse to consult? Why did it refuse to first ask the public what it wanted to see advertised? Why did it withhold information from the Oireachtas? Why did it attack the reporting of individual journalists when they exposed the politicisation of paid advertising? Why did it establish a review which excluded any independent input?

The simple reality is that the Government does not respect the legitimate difference between political agendas and the public service agenda.

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