Gerry Adams
Ceist:13. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach further to Question Nos. 5 to 11, inclusive, of 28 November 2017, the role of his Department in respect of the new national children's hospital. [53043/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 13 December 2017
Ceisteanna (13, 14)
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:14. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the outcome of the tender by his Department for a research and insights survey; and the results to date. [53135/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (23 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 14 together.
Good, clear and consistent communication is a virtue of good government. Citizens have a right to know what Government is doing and why.
The strategic communications unit was established earlier this year to bring that consistency, clarity and professionalism to all Government communications. It means communication is treated as a strategic, whole-of-Government activity, which must be conducted to the same level of professionalism as any other activity, such as human resource management, or financial management.
To date, the Cabinet has approved the strategic communications unit in my Department to work on the following campaigns in the coming months: the ten-year capital plan, Brexit, the national children's hospital, the Healthy Ireland framework, the Creative Ireland programme, global Ireland and rural Ireland. Further information campaigns will be added to this list in due course.
The unit's work on campaigns is informed by major Government initiatives that have an impact on the lives of our citizens, its focus is to streamline communications by working with other Departments to deliver on these major cross-Government campaigns.
It will help to ensure clear simple citizen-centered communications, so that it is evident when the Government of Ireland is communicating or delivering a service. This will lead to more co-ordinated and cost-effective communications that will generate efficiencies and increased value for money.
The national children's hospital represents the largest single investment in health care in this country and will provide world-class medical care to the children of Ireland. This new model of care for all paediatric services is for the whole country and will help tackle current and future challenges in child health and will deliver on the huge advances that are possible in children's health care.
Staff from the strategic communications unit in my Department will work in partnership with their communications colleagues in the Department of Health and other organisations involved in the delivery of the hospital. The focus of the campaign will be to keep citizens fully informed of progress in the delivery of the hospital and the new model of care it will provide, which involves much more than the hospital as it is a piece of national infrastructure.
The contract for the research and insight survey, which was procured by the Office of Government Procurement, has been awarded to Behaviour & Attitudes. Results of the survey will be published.
Now that the Minister for Health has said that the new children’s hospital is unlikely to be called the Phoenix, does the Taoiseach support the proposal that the hospital be named the Kathleen Lynn children's hospital? Many believe that so naming it would be a recognition of her important historic role in delivering medical care for the women and children of Dublin. It would be appropriate that her role as a suffragette, as a volunteer in the Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Rising should also be marked. The Taoiseach might like to take time to reflect on this. I would prefer if he did not just say "No" but that he gave this proposal some mature consideration.
Trade unions have expressed concerns about bogus self-employment on this site. What measures will be taken to ensure this does not happen? Will there be union negotiation on contracts and subcontractors? Can he confirm that union rates and agreed national pay rates will apply to contractors and subcontractors alike? Will these provisions be part of the tender where applicable? In the light of Brexit, has the Taoiseach given consideration to protecting the cross-Border arrangements that will see patients from the other side of the Border travel for care because this is an all-island children's hospital?
It is a coincidence that today the Dáil will debate a Fianna Fáil Bill on online advertising and social media transparency when at the same time the public is being bombarded by paid advertisements from Government on matters such as the Luas line, regional enterprise development fund and so on, which many would characterise as little more than publicly paid propaganda for the Government.
I have no difficulty with the advertising by a Department of a new scheme that is coming on stream, not necessarily involving Ministers, but that has always been the way. I thank the Taoiseach for informing us that Behaviour & Attitudes have won the contract for market research. What was the cost of the tender finally? He said the results will be published.
Deputy Adams referred to the naming of the national children's hospital, which I raised last week. I made a suggestion at the time to which the Minister for Health responded positively, which was to hold a national competition in our school system. Among those who will use it into the future are the children of Ireland. I have since written to the Minister for Health to ask him to consider that. It would be a useful and real way to set out what the children's hospital is about and to involve the children of Ireland in that process.
While the Taoiseach has been busy trying to claim no role in the new marketing unit's actions, a new freedom of information request confirms regular contact between the Taoiseach's chief of staff and the head of the unit, who was recommended by the Taoiseach for the job. One of the problems we discovered in the freedom of information process was that key discussions were shielded from release because they were described as an essential part of preparing a memorandum for Cabinet. It is understood that the unit made or was scheduled to make a presentation to Ministers yesterday. Can the Taoiseach assure the House that this will not be used as another excuse to shield information? Can the Taoiseach explain why the unit has not sought to discuss its plans with Members of the Dáil but is doing the rounds of marketing groups instead? Given that the Taoiseach has asserted central control on the branding and oversight of public advertising, can he explain the decision to spend thousands of euro on a full colour advertisement which was supposedly directed to minimum wage earners last Sunday? The advertisement was placed on the cover of the finance supplement of a business paper, beside an article about what people should do with buoyant dividend income. Does the Taoiseach accept that it is unacceptable to pretend to talk to low income people in an advertisement placed beside the headline "Splash the Cash"? Is this the type of propaganda we can expect from now on?
The core premise of the unit is supposed to be the addressing of a public information gap. The Taoiseach commissioned research on this but decided on priorities and budgets before receiving the results. Amazingly, the priorities for the largest marketing campaign ever run by a Taoiseach's office fit exactly with the Taoiseach's stated policy priorities. Does the Taoiseach agree that there is something fundamentally rotten about him deciding what the public wants to know about before actually asking the public? It would have been easy to carry out research listing a range of public policy issues and asking whether the public was happy with the availability of information in different areas. Perhaps the Taoiseach did not want the feedback that people would support advertising which gave them easier access to figures on hospital waiting lists, homelessness or other areas the Taoiseach believes are receiving too much attention from the media. Fundamentally, this is a political propaganda unit. It is a worrying trend and it is wrong from an ethical perspective.
I understand from the Minister for Health that there is an emerging view that the proposed name "Phoenix Children's Health" should not be the name of the new hospital. I am open-minded on the issue. I do not intend to make the decision personally but I am not keen on it being a political figure of any variety or colour. That would not be a good way forward. I have heard some people propose Kathleen Lynn. I have even heard people in my own party propose WT Cosgrave given his association with the site and the South Dublin Union. However, it would not be best to have the hospital named after a political figure of any variety.
Kathleen Lynn was a doctor.
Doctors can be political figures too, as Deputy Adams may know.
Not the good ones.
I may even be one myself. To venture an opinion, I would go for one of the following two options. It should either be called what it is, namely, the national children's hospital. Most of these hospitals around the world have simple names like that. Alternatively, if we are going to choose a unique name, I would like it to be as Gaeilge. It is an opportunity in Bliain na Gaeilge to choose an Irish language name for the hospital. I do not mean someone's name translated into Irish but rather an Irish word. My favourite name is "Starship" which is what the children's hospital in New Zealand is called. It was not called that by politicians, rather it happened by accident because it looks like a starship and that is what the children started to call it. It was subsequently adopted as the official name of the hospital. As it is taken, I do not think we can use it, however. Whatever name is chosen should be child friendly and, ideally, as Gaeilge. It should not be about politics, a political figure or make a political point of any sort.
I do not know the cost of the tender referred to. It is probably commercially sensitive. I am not aware of any presentation by the unit to Ministers yesterday. The head of the unit and its staff meet Ministers and officials regularly but I am not aware of any particular presentation yesterday.
We could not get FOI because of a memorandum.
No memorandum was taken to Cabinet yesterday. I am not involved in signing off newspaper advertisements or where they are located on a page. I have many things to be concerned about in this job. Approving advertisements and deciding where they get located on pages is not part of my remit or even particularly of my interest.
The Taoiseach should not be flippant. Does he agree that it is unacceptable to place a minimum wage advertisement in a business magazine?
I did not see it.
Is it not unacceptable?
I do not even know what the Deputy is talking about. If he wants to pass it on to me, I will take a look at it and let him know whether I think it is acceptable. I am the Head of Government and I am not signing off on advertisements or where they are located in newspapers.
It was the Taoiseach who signed off on the communications unit. It was the Taoiseach who initiated it and appointed the head.
If we can have the co-operation of Members, there are just seven minutes left.
Could I ask for a supplementary?
Can we get to the next question?
We have seven minutes before we go immediately to the pre-Council statements. If we start to take supplementaries, there will be no time to answer.
The Taoiseach spent two minutes waxing lyrical about the name of a hospital and avoided answering the hard questions that were asked about his propaganda unit.
Can we get to the next group?
We can go to the next group, but if the Taoiseach takes the time to answer, there will be no supplementaries. At least, it will be put on the record.