No rules broken, but hardly fair play

MARTIN CULLEN was proclaiming himself an innocent man yesterday. If Dermot Quigley’s remit had been to investigate political cronyism and parochialism, the verdict would have been distinctly different.

The Transport Minister was cleared of any wrongdoing in the appointment of his political associate Monica Leech to a series of PR contracts ultimately worth €390,000.

However, that does not mean he acted in an impeccable manner and the report by Dermot Quigley certainly isn’t the last to be heard from this affair.

It became apparent yesterday just why the recommendations of the Quigley Report were leaked out at the weekend, as there was certainly no smoking gun in the final analysis.

The real meat in the report comes in the chronicling of the patronage of Ms Leech by Mr Cullen, resulting in her appointment to a series of lucrative contracts in departments where he was the minister.

Delving through the detail of the awarding of the contracts is an eyebrow-raising experience. The report is a fascinating insight into sponsorship of political associates within the public service system.

It also raises some serious questions about the minister’s conduct in failing to guard against the accusation that he was affording preferential treatment to a friend and supporter.

While Mr Cullen didn’t break any rules or laws, his activities certainly went outside the spirit of what is expected from those honoured with holding high office.

Until now, accusations of cronyism to political associates were largely limited to appointments of party activists to State bodies with healthy expenses attached.

There is an enormous difference, however, between a Fianna Fáil cumann secretary claiming a few hundred bob in mileage per year for travelling to meetings of a prison visitors’ committee and being paid €390,000 for PR consultancy contracts over a sustained period of time.

At various stages, across two Government departments, the minister paved the way for Ms Leech to be appointed as a highly paid consultant.

Not only did he suggest her services be engaged in both cases, but he also rejected officials’ suggestions that she be hired as a full-time staff member, which would have been more cost-effective for the taxpayer and been more transparent.

The report also showed how Mr Cullen had a heavy hand on the parish pump in Waterford.

The original appointment of Ms Leech came about as a result of the minister’s desire to publicise the significant number of projects he had authorised in his own constituency.

Again this is the type of parochialism which brings the Government and the entire political system into disrepute, as ministers show a greater degree of interest in their home base than dividing resources on merit in the national interest.

The necessity for Dermot Quigley to issue a dozen recommendations shows clearly the inherent need for the Government to remove any loopholes which can be availed of in the awarding of contracts.

“There are risks in a minister proposing a named person for a contract. Such a procedure may not at least give rise to a perception of impropriety, eg that a supporter, associate or an acquaintance of a minister was getting special treatment; or of a minister seeking to influence a subsequent procurement process,” he concluded.

Although the minister didn’t break any rules, the report is not a vindication of Martin Cullen’s handling of this issue.

He yesterday displayed his stereotypical lack of humility in focusing solely on the positive findings in the report from his perspective and there was no acknowledgement of any weakness in judgment on his part.

Similar to the electronic voting debacle, it was not clear if Mr Cullen had actually learned any lesson.

With one bound our hero has not leapt free. There are plenty more obstacles for Martin Cullen to overcome and he’s already limping.