Failed bid to host new EU agency cost €176,000
IRELAND’S failed bid to become the home of the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Agency (AMLA) cost our taxpayers more than €176,000.
The bid to have Dublin awarded the new European agency, employing some 400 staff, failed to get past the first round of voting in February.
In a secret ballot among EU member states, Frankfurt saw off competition from contenders including Madrid, Paris and Rome.
The disappointing result would have surprised officials in the Department of Finance, who noted positive feedback from the campaign. Documents obtained by the Irish Daily Mail detail spending on social media campaigns as well as ‘high-visibility’ marketing in the form of an LED display wall at Brussels Airport, which cost €33,563 for one month.
The documents also show that a confidence motion called by Sinn Féin in Minister for Justice Helen McEntee impacted on ministers’ ability to canvas European counterparts. Jennifer Carroll McNeill, junior minister at the Department of Finance, was due to meet with her Dutch and Swedish counterparts, but the documents note the meetings had to be rearranged due to the confidence motion.
Meetings of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in Brussels in January, as well as the World Economic Forum in Davos, were viewed as prime lobbying opportunities for Minister for Finance Michael McGrath.
A brochure outlining Ireland as a prime destination was also provided to European ministers. A marketing plan for the failed bid, actioned by IDA Ireland and obtained by the Mail, shows an extensive digital and physical marketing campaign. The three key messaging points in the marketing brief were ‘tech, talent and teamwork’.
The social media ad campaign was targeted within a 10-15km radius in Brussels and Strasbourg parliaments, airports and railway stations. The documents show €15,628 was spent on adverts across Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and €15,628 was spent on LinkedIn. Ads were also placed in the Brussels Times, which the campaign notes is ‘hand-delivered to MEPs’. More than €55,000 was spent on digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising in both Brussels and Strasbourg.
It was targeted at those aged 40 to 65-plus along with interests in public finance, international relations, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and European economies – and had a potential to reach 610,000 people in both locations. A memo to Minister McGrath notes that the campaign was being received positively. The records show that such was the belief among officials that Dublin was best suited to be the home of the new agency that they would struggle to indicate to whom they would give their second preference. The ultimate decision has been redacted.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Finance said that ‘a review of the entire project will be carried out that will include a focus on how similar projects can be conducted in the future and what learnings can be shared across Government’.
The campaign was ‘received positively’