Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 September 2017
4. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when the strategic communications unit in his Department will be established; the number of staff that will be assigned to the unit; and the cost associated with its establishment. [39624/17]
View answer5. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the establishment of a strategic communications unit in his Department. [39626/17]
View answer6. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the new strategic communications unit in his Department. [39659/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 6, inclusive, together.
Communications is an essential part of effectiveness of any modern organisation. That is particularly true of Departments and public service bodies in all countries, given the impact of their activities on the lives of citizens. That is why communications should be treated as a strategic, whole-of-government activity which should be conducted to the same level of professionalism as any other activity, such as human resource management or financial management.
Ireland should aspire to meeting best international practice and we are seeking to draw on the experience of other countries in this regard.
The new strategic communications unit aims to help achieve that over time. It will be integrated entirely within the Civil Service structures in my Department, with the director of the unit reporting to the Secretary General of the Department. Needless to say, no political or party political work can be carried out by the unit.
A high-level working group, chaired by the Secretary General, will be established to ensure successful oversight and delivery of the work plan of the unit. Further cross-departmental oversight will be provided by the Civil Service management board.
The operating principles for the unit, as I mentioned, will ensure that it does not engage in any party political work.
The unit will convene briefings and consultations across Government, including with Ministers and wider stakeholders, as appropriate. A network of communications professionals from across Government will be developed to share best practice and develop continuing professional development for the communication function.
The unit has commenced work but further organisational change will be required before it is fully operational.
The current staff of the unit is made up of six serving public and civil servants, assigned on secondment or through reallocation of internal resources within the Department of the Taoiseach. It is headed by a director, on secondment from a State agency, at assistant secretary level. The other five staff have been reassigned from within the Department.
Further staff will be recruited, including through the assignment of three media and communications assistants, who were already in the process of recruitment, to fill existing vacancies through an open competition run by the Public Appointments Service. Staffing decisions on the unit will be made by the Department’s senior management.
Every effort will be made to avoid duplication with existing functions, both within the Department and across the public service. Indeed, one of the principal purposes of this initiative is to reduce duplication and increase whole-of-Government co-ordination.
As well as increasing the effectiveness and quality of communications, this will also lead to greater value for money and reduced expenditure overall.
As an initial step in the modernisation of communications, my Department conducted some research on existing communications activities, including the range of campaigns, brands and channels of communication used by different agencies, which have built up over many years under successive governments. The results of that research will be used by Civil Service management to help frame the workplan for the new unit.
Of course, most of the existing communication activities are an essential part of the work of State agencies, in areas such as transport, tourism, trade and investment promotion, food, energy and public health. Nevertheless, there are significant opportunities for building the effectiveness of that existing capacity, as well as for rationalisation.
This will ensure that the new approach to strategic communications will be cost neutral. In fact, it is likely to give rise to a significant increase in value for money and a reduction in overall expenditure over time.
Given that there would be no change of policy or direction from this Government on the Taoiseach's watch, it was probably inevitable that he would dedicate his efforts instead to a change of tack in terms of spin, presentation, the look of the thing and how it sounds to the public.
From the Taoiseach's response I have no sense as to the relationship between this strategic communications unit and him, as Taoiseach. What function does it serve for him as he goes about his business? Is this a souped-up PR function for him as Head of Government? He has not made that clear.
How can the Taoiseach claim this is cost neutral? The Taoiseach has gone further in saying that it will yield savings. I believe he said that six civil servants had been moved on secondment. Presumably those positions have not been backfilled. Presumably whatever work these individuals were doing within the system previously is left undone or else new folks have been recruited to do it. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify that for us.
Can the Taoiseach confirm that two members of the communications strategic unit travelled to London recently to meet officials in the office of the British Prime Minister? If they made that trip, what was its purpose? While I accept the absolute commonality of position between Fine Gael and the Tories, I wonder if that is the model the Taoiseach wishes to imitate or ape given the absolute mess his friends across the water are making of the negotiations and the communications on Brexit.
What are the implications of this unit for the established infrastructure of the Government press office and so on? Who does what?
The Taoiseach would want to expand on what he envisages as the role for this strategic communications unit. As he spoke, I actually felt he was really talking about something like a political propaganda unit because he indicated that the purpose of the unit was to get the good news to the people. Are we going to see the Taoiseach's photo on the side of a bus, announcing to the plain people of Ireland, "Be happy"?
The Deputy can rest assured that there will not be anything like that.
It all sounds like this is PR and spin.
I think I have seen her on a bus though.
He has confessed on many occasions to his particular love of the media and, I think, their corresponding appreciation of him. That is well known about him. It is a very good and important attribute in politics; many of us probably wish we had his skill in that regard.
The Taoiseach spoke about six people being employed. The head of the agency is a very fine public servant. His salary is quoted as being approximately €120,000. If their average salary is €70,000, it tops out at €420,000 just on salaries. Admittedly these are public servants moving from other jobs. However, presumably someone on a salary of €120,000 was not doing nothing previously and must have been doing something.
A story appeared in one of those media outlets he admires, the Irish Examiner. I am sure Deputy Micheál Martin admires it; I certainly admire it, given that it contains some of the best journalism in Ireland. It reported a potential €160,000 tender to find out the public's perception of the Government and to inform its work. This was a long story published last week. How is this not political research? How can asking about any government in any country at any time not be political research?
I think that is wrong. Will the Taoiseach clarify whether he is proposing to divert money to this project at a time when we have just heard sad stories about the health service?
Since he established this unit the Taoiseach has continued to change his story on what it is to do. Originally, it was supposed to be completely separate from the Government Information Service. He said that in the House but now he is claiming it will integrate fully with the Government Information Service. Originally, he admitted that it was his personal initiative. Now he claims that it is a standard Civil Service unit. He said in August it would employ two people and be cost neutral. Last week, in response to a parliamentary question, he outlined how it will have six staff and will save money into the future. Which is it? Could the Taoiseach clarify for us whether it is he who personally decided that the head and deputy head of the unit should take up their roles, and that neither of them is a permanent member of the staff of the Department of the Taoiseach? Did the civil servants come up with this proposal? Why were the positions not advertised? That is best international practice, which the Taoiseach has told us is behind all of this in the first place. Could he clarify why they are represented at meetings of political advisers if they are not political? If they are appointed to their role by the Taoiseach and not by the Secretary General, then they are political staff. The Taoiseach can dress it up any way he wants but that is the simple fact. That he keeps denying it just confirms in my view that he has been caught installing the largest political spin operation in the history of Irish Government. Could he explain, as Deputy Burton asked, the €150,000 that is to be spent on researching public attitudes to Government? Which subheads have been reduced in order to fund the staff of the unit and measures such as the market research, which is political by definition? There is no way one can demarcate that exercise from the political dimension. Could the Taoiseach also explain if there are changes being made to his Department's website and, if so, if that went to tender or if it is being done internally?
It is a little bizarre to hear Deputy McDonald talk about the absolute commonality between my party and the British Conservatives and then to talk about Brexit. My party is and has always been a very pro-European party that is committed to European integration. Up until very recently Sinn Féin wanted Ireland to leave the European Union. It opposed our entry into it and has consistently opposed every single European treaty.
1973.
At least when it comes to issues such as European affairs the Euroscepticism of the Sinn Féin Party very much mirrors the Euroscepticism of the British Conservative Party.
We are Eurocritical.
I am also a little bit amused to hear Deputy Burton refer to my love of the media and their love of me. On the rare occasion that I open the Sunday newspapers and flick through them I do not feel that they love me or that I love them for that matter.
Maybe not enough.
They are not that bad to the Taoiseach now.
I will move on and answer some of the questions. My view is that communication is a virtue. Citizens have a right to know what their Government is doing. They have a right to know the full story about what is going on and they also have a right to know how taxpayers' money is spent. There is huge fragmentation out there. One needs to just think of the number of different Departments and Government agencies and all the different logos and identities they have. If one asks people which bodies are Government bodies there is confusion as to whether it is a public body, an NGO or private body. There is confusion as to whether it is part of central government or if it is part of local government because we have seen such a massive proliferation of government in recent years
So it is an educational initiative for the public.
That is the kind of thing that we want to change; we want to move away from that fragmentation. It is something that has been done in Holland, where they took 200 different logos and identities and moved them into one so that people knew what was part of central government and what was not. It is something as well that they have done in Britain where they have saved money overall in having a single central government identity.
This is very strange.
Could the Taoiseach come back to Brexit? I think he is sinking.
In terms of the kind of information that may be of interest to Members, if they look at the total communication and marketing spend across Government it runs to about €170 million a year. A lot of that is totally legitimate. It includes the tourism marketing fund for Tourism Ireland. It also includes Bord Bia promoting Irish food abroad. It further includes public health messages encouraging people to avail of BreastCheck and other such measures. However, a lot of it is Departments and agencies promoting their own existence and to me that is wasteful and is not in the public interest.
Could the Taoiseach give us some examples?
Irish Water.
The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak without interruption.
I would like us to have a single central government identity so that people know what central government is and what it is not, what it is doing and what it is not, and what it is responsible for. I believe there is a deficit there and that deficit can be best addressed by being much more strategic in the way that we let people know what we are doing as a Government.
It was absolutely my idea to establish it.
It was.
Yes, absolutely it was my idea to establish it but, obviously, it is a Civil Service unit so the staffing was done by the Secretary General.
Did the Taoiseach suggest the head of staff?
I suggested the head.
The Taoiseach said-----
The Taoiseach did suggest a head. Are they attending-----
Yes, but I did not suggest any other staff and I have not been involved in tenders for research or making any particular decisions on staffing. In terms of the question on the subhead, the subhead is obviously the administration subhead of the Department.
Why were the positions not advertised?
It is not my role to decide how units are staffed within the public and Civil Service.
It most certainly is.
The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak.
On a point of order, the Government has made it clear that all positions in public bodies are to be publicly advertised and the Government made a big song and dance about it for the past five years.
And then broke it.
On a point of order.
No, hold on.
Is it the case that the staff attend political advisers' meetings?
I call on the Taoiseach to answer the question.
On a point of order.
Could Deputy Burton put her point of order?
There is a Public Appointments Service, which the previous Government indicated would be responsible for filling all staffing positions.
The Taoiseach will answer the question.
Those are not points of order, by that way.
I realise that but it was only afterwards that I realised it. I cannot think for them.
I will not be so presumptuous as to tell you how to do your job, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but it is of course within your authority to rule them out of order.
Hold on. What the Taoiseach is saying to me is that I knew what Deputy Martin and Deputy Burton wanted to raise as a point of order. I cannot think for them.
That is fair enough.
It is out of order.
I stand corrected, again. I have forgotten the questions now. They are so much more obsessed with my public relations than I am interested in them.
We are asking why the positions were not publicly advertised.
I do not know why.
I will leave it to the Taoiseach. There are no more points of order.
They are supplementary questions.
It is pretty normal for people within Departments to be reassigned to different roles.
Yes, but the Taoiseach appointed those people to this unit.
That has been the practice since the foundation of the State. Every role within a Department is not advertised.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, on a point of order.
No, we are moving on to the next question.
I asked a supplementary question about whether the communications staff attend meetings of political advisers.
And if they were in London?
Not that I am aware of.
Could the Taoiseach check it?
The Taoiseach is not aware of it.
