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

I welcome the reduction in respect of the SCU because what was going on there was wrong and its parent was the Creative Ireland initiative. Through freedom of information, FOI, requests we came across evidence that the then Minister was making decisions as to which newspaper would be allocated what. The Minister made a decision on the allocation of public moneys to newspapers. I have the response to the FOI request and can show it to the Taoiseach. That is a dangerous precedent and one that is open to abuse. For that reason I welcome what has transpired.

The market research was originally identified by the Taoiseach as a basis for the decisions that the SCU would take, to follow what the public had identified, through the market research, as areas where Departments were deficient in communicating with it. However, €2.2 million was spent well in advance of any research being done based on the political objectives and priorities of the Government, not on the market research. I look forward to a meeting to discuss this market research which we have heard about for a year. Perhaps on the anniversary of the market research we might get a consultation.

See this speech in context