Bill for ‘media advisers’ remains a secret

IRISH Water has refused to disclose how much money it has spent on public relations consultants since the company was set up last year.

However, it has admitted that the costs are not included in the €86m consultancy spend that chief executive John Tierney admitted to earlier this year.

Last week, the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that the super quango continues to spend nearly €1m every month on ‘advisers’. But the company failed under a Freedom of Information request to provide details of its spending on media advisers, saying that its parent company, Ervia was picking up the cost. The company later admitted, though, that subsidiaries such as Irish Water are later charged for their share of PR costs.

Despite this, the company continued to deny this was another hidden cost associated with the setting up of Irish Water.

Fianna Fáil environment spokesman Barry Cowen said it was another example of Irish Water ‘squirrelling away costs from public view’. ‘These guys just don’t get it, they do not realise the level of public anger and frustration out there at the way they operate.’

Ervia says it has ‘2.5 people’ in its press office who work full time on Irish Water.

However, the utility has also employed Terry Prone’s the Communications Clinic and, until recently, its PR was also handled by Fleishman Hillard.

The account, said to be worth around €546,000 a year or €1,500 a day, has now been handed to Murray Consultants, who will work under the umbrella of Ervia.

Irish Water, which had a start-up budget of €180m, has caused outrage by spending nearly half of this on outside consultants.