Quigley Report reveals minister’s saga of political cronyism, says opposition
Fine Gael environment spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said that while no guidelines had been officially broken, the actions of Mr Cullen were inappropriate and highly questionable.
“There is a clear pattern of Minister Cullen arriving in a department and immediately demanding additional communications advice and suggesting the employment of Mrs Leech,” he said.
Mr O’Dowd also focused on Mr Quigley’s conclusion that a proposal to hire a particular company by a minister was likely to give rise to the perception of impropriety.
“These comments indicate that, while the minister may have stayed within the letter of the guidelines and procedures that apply, there were numerous areas of questionable procedure, work content and costs involved,” he said.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said yesterday’s report exposed a saga of political cronyism on the part of Mr Cullen.
“It is clear that Ms Leech’s firm - which was only established a number of months after her original appointment to the Department of the Environment - was appointed initially without any competition, and then subsequently a highly restricted competition was held, in which only Ms Leech’s firm and one other were involved. At no point was the consultancy advertised,” he said.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the report highlighted Mr Cullen’s cronyism and called on him to resign.
“What comes across in the report is the casual manner in which Minister Cullen expends public money.
“Given the finding that much of the work or indeed foreign trips were not relevant to the contract in question, it beggars belief that the minister ensured his PR consultant would receive an even higher daily pay than the Taoiseach. The greatest service Minister Cullen could do the country and Fianna Fáil would be to resign,” he said.
Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said yesterday’s report was a poor indictment of Mr Cullen.
“What will rightly strike most people as scandalous is that a minister or a department can award such a contract. When this is for public relations which could and should have been done by the civil service itself, the scandal is compounded,” he said.
