INDEPENDENTS ATTACK LEO’S €5M SCU
Independents blast Taoiseach’s €5m SCU for leaving them out
INDEPENDENT ministers have accused the Strategic Communications Unit of being a spin machine for Leo Varadkar that ignores the independent members of Government.
Although he says he has a very good working relationship with the SCU, Independent Alliance Minister Finian McGrath told the Irish Mail on Sunday last night that he understands other ministers are very criticial of it because it ‘doesn’t help them enough’.
Fine Gael ministers said the future of the €5m SCU is now in jeopardy because the presentation of a newspaper advertising campaign as genuine news backfired.
And the MoS can reveal that, outside of Project Ireland 2040, the SCU is planning to organise 35 campaigns this year. Among them are the Budget Year Process, Rebuilding Ireland, Sláinte Care, Brexit, St Patrick’s Day, and the commemoration of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Taoiseach has been warned that he faces ‘internal trouble’ within Fine Gael if he does not curb the SCU’s excesses. The unit was set up to coordinate Government communications internally and with the public. However, the opposition has attacked the body as a ‘propaganda machine’, with one comparing it to the propaganda operation of Joseph Goebbels.
Last night, a number of Fine Gael and independent ministers said the SCU concentrates too intently on the image of the Taoiseach. An independent source said: ‘The SCU is more or less ignoring independents, but without us Fine Gael would not be in Government.
‘Leo is too invested in selfpublicity. Just look at his Twitter. Government initiatives like Project Ireland are being hijacked by Fine Gael because they have resources. Independents have no resources.’
FF sources said they are preparing a motion to abolish the SCU. Labour and Sinn Féin are expected to back it, which may force Mr Varadkar to dissolve the unit.
There are six Independent ministers in Government. Four – Shane Ross, Finian McGrath, Katherine Zappone and Denis Naughten – sit at Cabinet. Two – John Halligan and Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran – are junior ministers. It is understood they are unhappy with the amount of assistance they get from what one described as ‘Leo’s heavily funded propaganda unit’.
Mr McGrath is publicly supportive of the SCU. ‘I’ve done a number of videos with them [SCU], and I’m also part of that NDP [National Development PLan] video you were all giving out about. I stand by them, and I defend them and I think they are doing a great job.’
Another minister said the SCU has gone ‘t**s up’ because of the advertorials. ‘We were just 5% too slick. We just went that bit too far.’
A Government spokesman said Project Ireland 2040 is a ‘significant plan for the future of Ireland’ and it’s important ‘citizens have access to information which is relevant to them’. He added that ‘as part of the multi-faceted programme, a number of regional events have been planned at locations around the country’.
‘We were just 5% too slick. We went too far’