Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like many other Deputies in this Chamber, I am very concerned by the use of millions of euro of taxpayers' money to fund what appears to be little more than a Fine Gael propaganda department. In October, the Taoiseach promised that this unit would not be involved in promoting political parties or in producing political adverts. That was clearly fake news. A month later the Taoiseach pledged to create a republic of opportunity but I think what he meant by that was a republic of photo opportunities, for himself and his party’s candidates.

Some of the paid-for adverts for the Project Ireland 2040 plan were designed to look like regular news stories which included pictures of Fine Gael general election candidates. It was a blatant attempt to get certain candidates’ faces into photos and to get the public to associate a vote for that person with the completion of new infrastructure or new public transport services.

It was parish pump politics at its worst. Not only that, it was a sly and underhanded approach aimed at deceiving the general public.

It is time for the Taoiseach's personal spin unit to be closed down. Public money should not be spent on promoting Fine Gael and its candidates. The use of this money should also be scrutinised by the Committee of Public Accounts as soon as possible.

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