More staff expected to quit Carr firm

FURTHER resignations are expected at Carr Communications following the surprise departure of PR guru Terry Prone from the company.

It is also expected that the managing director and major shareholder of Carr Communications, Dermot McCrum, will address staff about the company’s future next week following turmoil caused by Ms Prone’s resignation.

Company chairman Fergus Hoban met groups and individuals within the consultancy on Monday, and told them that if clients left Carr Communications to become clients of Ms Prone’s own company, “the best of luck to them”.

Further resignations are anticipated and morale was described by one staff member as “at an all-time low”.

Carr Communications is one of the country’s top public relations companies and Ms Prone and her husband Tom Savage played key roles in establishing the firm with an enviable reputation for excellence in its field. Ms Prone is also a best-selling author.

Carr Communications has attained iconic status in the highly competitive PR area and the Prone/Savage partnership is acknowledged as being the main driver of this success.

The company also employs their son Anton Savage and he too has emerged as a highly respected figure in the industry.

The company, the subject of an €8 million management buyout (MBO) four years ago, provides media training to a host of politicians, public figures and government departments. The MBO was led by managing director Dermot McCrum and Mr Hoban. Ms Prone and Mr Savage were significant shareholders prior to the MBO. Ms Prone has a company called The Communication Clinic but it is anticipated that she will concentrate on her writing career following her departure from Carr Communications.