Spending €5m on a Government PR unit is flawed

WHEN a public relations department needs a public relations department of its own, it’s not working.

This week the Government decided that the new Government Strategic Media Unit (SMU) wasn’t quite garnering sufficient negative publicity and decided to allocate a whopping €5m budget to fund its operations. Doing so brought a fresh wave of unwanted criticism and attention. Bravo, that ought to dampen down the already existing disquiet.

I am being facetious of course. In truth I am ever so slightly jealous, as are copious members of the outraged opposition. Full disclosure is probably a good idea at this juncture. I must admit that I endeavoured to establish more inter-departmental public relations management myself in 2002 when I was appointed government press secretary (GPS). Back then there was no political appetite for the inevitable backlash that would ensue had we attempted such an audacious move.

Moreover, there were genuine and legitimate concerns within the civil service at that time surrounding the demarcation lines between government information and political propaganda. Those concerns surely remain. Now that the SMU has been established, it is important to have a proper discussion about how it will function, particularly during and in the run-up to future general election and referenda campaigns.

Opposition parties are correct to be uneasy about the development. Principally, because we now live in an era where news can be selfgenerated. Allowing direct access to the public and voters through digital platforms without the scrutiny of the media. Therefore, it is plausible to anticipate that we could arrive at a situation where any political party who holds power simply generates its own news. Then, simply by using taxpayers’ money as a war chest, they could define their own unfiltered narrative.

Speaking in the Dáil in response to this issue, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar declared that the unit would ultimately “save the taxpayer money”.

I am not convinced that it will. Alas, even it if does, this is no simple question of finance. Even if in some distant La La Land, €5m suddenly becomes “cost neutral”, any objective observer might argue it affords an unfair advantage to whoever holds the balance of power.

The communications structure within government heretofore has been as follows. A government press secretary is appointed by government and has a dual function.

Their first role is to act as spokesperson for the Taoiseach and for the government in its entirety.

He/she exclusively manages the Taoiseach’s press relations both domestic and international. This much sought-after and highly visible role places the unfortunate individual slap bang in the middle of two of the most precious and precarious professions known to man, namely politics and the media. It is a 24/7 mind-numbingly frustrating role, which was clearly designed to test the emotions and patience of the incumbent to near breaking point.

The co-ordination of all other government departments’ press operations was the less visible and more pedestrian side of the role of the GPS. This second and largely hidden aspect of the job is at times even more onerous than the first.

Attempting to manage the public relations initiatives and crisis management situations of all 15 government departments, it demands an acute appreciation of the press, the political landscape and public opinion. It also requires man-management and logistics skills that might test the ability of a Ryanair pilot holiday planner.

In this role the government press secretary attempts (and I use that in the loosest way possible) to arrange the information flow from government to the media and on to the public.

Managing the media is torture, handling ministers, their political cabals and the civil service is sheer and utter hell.

So, the structure of the GPS role certainly required examination and change. It was designed in an era when our media consisted of a small number of national and regional newspapers and an even smaller number of broadcast outlets.

Managing a small number of government departments that spent little or no money on public relations or information campaigns. Now all of this has changed utterly. In today’s modern media environment, with minute-by-minute news development, these combined roles are probably too big for just one person. Superman stuff.

However, to simply unilaterally establish a stand-alone public relations unit and commit a serious amount of taxpayers’ money to it without any prior consultation or discussion was a tad devious on this Government’s part.

Charges of political opportunism are not without foundation. A better way might have been to arrive at the new arrangements after a Government decision was made following a more public discussion.

In establishing this new strategic media unit, the Government has effectively split the role of Government press secretary in two. Not only does this new structure hive off those pressures from the Government press secretary, it also ensures that he or she will now be exclusively devoted to the first role which is solely about managing the Taoiseach. #Leoforleader.

THERE are enough savvy media operators within this Government to know that issues like this convulse the media and politicians. Ideas about people who work in the background of political life remain suffused with romanticism.

The life of a political press adviser or political apparatchiks is depicted by glamorous fictional portrayals on television. Creative fantasists on programmes invent visions of attractive men and women in fashion-forward outfits, who sit around large offices brainstorming. You will often see them represented as slightly detached creatures whose only taxing activity is to drink lattes and squeeze a stress ball. Gazing into the middle distance while they construct a fiendishly ingenious plot through their latest political conundrum.

In reality government press and advisory roles are laboriously taxing endeavours. A constant search for information – as you try to stay one step ahead of the media and try to keep the public informed. It is a never-ending jigsaw puzzle that everyone is building at the same time – but no one ever really knows what the final picture they are trying to create will be. Pieces go missing, bits are thumped into positions they don’t belong. Just when an image seems to be within touching distance, someone takes all the pieces and throws them on the floor. And you start all over again.

Given that the Government was already struggling to justify the existence of what is effectively a one-stop public relations department to promote Government business, it was a silly move to commit €5m at this time.

It did not happen in splendid isolation, but at a time when arguably more important measures were eclipsed in financial terms when juxtaposed against window dressing.

School meals in Deis schools (€1.7m), additional Rural Social Scheme (€1.2m), town and village regeneration supports (€3m), Irish language (€2.5m) – I could go on, but I won’t.

Anomalies which continue to exist in the State pension entitlements for those who had the misfortune to take time out of their careers to care for children was described by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe as “bonkers”.

Indeed, it is bonkers minister. What’s even slightly more bonkers is committing €5m to a Strategic Media Unit that now needs some public relations of its own.