Fisheries agency spent about €60,000 on communications training prior to PAC appearance
A State organisation paid about €60,000 to a communications company for training and background preparation before its senior figures faced politicians at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) 10 days ago. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) said this weekend it had paid €53,933, excluding VAT, to DHR Communications. It said DHR Communications had provided it with “training and communications support” in advance of a hearing of the PAC on March 26th. The State agency said DHR’s services had been “delivered through existing contractual arrangements with IFI’s legal advisers, included both an executive training/support and a consultancy and documentary research role”.READ MOREInside the only girls’ boarding school taught entirely through IrishGerry Thornley: Does anyone know how good Leinster are? Do Leinster even know?Trump’s random gibberish is more terrifying than lies. It is a sign of derangement‘He was back on in five minutes’: The former Munster captain now suffering with dementiaAt the hearing on March 26th, IFI executives said they had received training over five or six days. [ ‘Serious allegations’ over former taoiseach putting pressure on fisheries agency, PAC hearsOpens in new window ]IFI provided details of the training cost to The Irish Times on foot of queries, and to the PAC, this weekend. PAC chairman John Brady (Sinn Féin) said on Monday the payment to the communications company represented “an extraordinary unjustifiable use of public money”. IFI had been asked to return before the PAC in March after members expressed unhappiness at their engagement with the organisation at a previous hearing in December centring around governance and financial control issues. IFI said the €53,933 payment to DHR Communications covered the period from December 12th to the PAC meeting in March. December 12th was one week after the previous appearance of the agency before the committee. At the March 26th hearing, Brady said it was “unprecedented” for the committee to recall a public body so soon.“It is unprecedented and is born out of deep frustration at our previous engagement, which I think was less than helpful. There was a deep level of frustration among all members of the committee at the level of engagement and openness, or lack thereof, from IFI at that particular meeting,” he said.[ Controversies and governance issues at fisheries agency very damaging, says departmentOpens in new window ]IFI, in its statement this weekend, said its December appearance had been “deemed unsatisfactory” by the committee.Following that hearing, Minister for State with Responsibility for Fisheries Timmy Dooley told IFI chairman Tom Collins in a letter that “a number of items” raised at the hearing had not been fully addressed.At the March hearing, Collins said the context for the communications training was “against the background of the last meeting” with the committee, which had not generated a “positive outcome” for IFI.“We would make absolutely sure as a board that the next time we would try to ensure that any mistakes that may have been made would not be made again.”Brady said on Monday he had “serious and ongoing concerns about governance within IFI” which were deepened by the latest revelations.“Spending almost €54,000, before VAT, on PR consultancy to prepare for their most recent appearance before the Public Accounts Committee is an extraordinary unjustifiable use of public money. At a time when IFI should be focused on addressing substantive issues around governance, it instead chose to invest in how it presents itself under scrutiny.“It also raises clear questions about the procurement process behind this contract, and whether proper competitive procedures were followed. At a time when IFI should be working to restore public trust and confidence, this decision represents yet another blow to that effort and reinforces concerns about its overall approach to governance and public expenditure.”
