Parties oppose renewal of Leech contract
Ms Leech was awarded a two-year contract, worth €800 plus VAT per day, in a tender process in February 2003, six months after she had been hired by the department on a temporary basis in a single tender process.
The latest figures show that Ms Leech, a political supporter of Transport Minister Martin Cullen in Waterford, has earned €310,000 to date for the part-time consultancy.
Last night, Fine Gael and Labour both said that any new “media communications” consultancy for the Department should, at the very least, be subject to an open and transparent public competition process involving five tenders.
Both parties questioned the need to have a media consultant involved in the day-to-day management of the department.
Fine Gael’s environment spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said that the department should only hire consultants for specific projects that require outside expertise.
A Labour spokesperson said that if the contract was put up for renewal, the process would need to be “more open and transparent than it was on the last occasion”. The view of the party remained that former Environment Minister Martin Cullen’s intentions were to appoint a political adviser.
“He was quite entitled to do that. However, he would have had to comply with the Public Service Management Act,” he said.
The Department of the Environment would make no comment yesterday on the possible renewal of the contract in February 2005.
However, a spokesperson confirmed an assistant secretary of the department had agreed a “schedule of work” for Ms Leech, shortly after the new minister, Dick Roche, had taken up his position in late September.
The Government yesterday contacted the Standards in Public Offices Commission (SIPO) to ascertain if there was a potential for a clash between SIPO’s inquiry into Ms Leech’s appointment and the one announced by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Monday.
Mr Ahern said the inquiry, which may be headed by a retired senior civil servant, could be completed within a month.
