Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all acknowledge that the strategic communications unit has been a disaster from day one and the Government will eventually be forced to acknowledge it - the sooner the better. A communications unit is supposed to make news, it is not supposed to be the news. Initially we were told the unit would not cost the State a cent. Those were the Taoiseach's words. Subsequently, we discovered that it would cost in the region of €5 million annually. For that €5 million taxpayers have witnessed a series of blunders. Chief among those blunders was the Project Ireland 2040 launch where the communications unit thought it would be appropriate to use taxpayers' money to build profiles for Fine Gael candidates. We know the Taoiseach is all about self-promotion and publicity stunts. There is no real substance to his leadership. It is all spin. We also know that this spin unit was the Taoiseach's creation, his baby. However, he cannot even get his spin right.

If the Government were doing its job properly, it would not be necessary to have such an over-the-top spin propaganda operation that costs the taxpayer €5 million a year to get its message across. The delivery of its work would speak for itself. The media would not have to be paid to cover it. However, this is what happens when the Taoiseach gives jobs to his friends as he has done with the head of the strategic communications unit, Mr. John Concannon. As Sinn Féin spokesperson for tourism, it would be remiss of me not to mention that Mr. Concannon was director of market development at Fáilte Ireland at the time that the Taoiseach-----

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