Leo angry amid calls to axe his spin team

‘Vituperative and venomous’

THE Government’s Strategic Communications Unit came under further pressure yesterday as the Taoiseach agreed to appear before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions on it.

Leo Varadkar admitted in the Dáil that the SCU had become a ‘distraction’, and that controls had been ‘too loose’.

He even suggested it could lose its budget completely – going out of existence – depending on the outcome of a review he has ordered.

However, the Taoiseach also fought back against Opposition TDs in a Dáil row yesterday, deploring ‘vituperative and venomous’ comments he said were directed at him personally.

‘I understand the kind of thing that is going on here, which is try to inflict political damage on me and on the Government,’ he said.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the Taoiseach had spent the last week ‘in full denial’ in regard to the party-political nature of the advertisements related to the National Development Plan.

He said there had been a ‘blurring of lines between the independence of the civil service and the promotion of a political party.

The Taoiseach’s department had also resisted every attempt to release material under the Freedom of Information Act relating to the SCU.

‘What did the Taoiseach have to hide?’ Mr Martin asked, insisting that the SCU ‘should be stood down and abolished,’ a stance supported by Sinn Féin and the Labour Party.

Mr Varadkar said a complaint has been made about the SCU to the Standards in Public Office Commission. ‘That is the best body in my view to carry out any independent investigation,’ he said, adding that he would also go before the Finance Committee in a few weeks.

‘I am happy to answer any case that needs to be answered.’