Leech to head chamber of commerce

PUBLIC relations consultant and former public relations adviser to the Government Monica Leech was last night approved as chief executive officer of Waterford Chamber of Commerce by a chamber sub-committee.

Her appointment is expected to be rubber-stamped in the coming days with the chamber board.

The chamber director of 10 years and former president of the Waterford guild was ratified to the €60,000-a-year post at a sub-committee meeting of 650-member organisation.

Ms Leech, who has also held the post of president of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, was one of several candidates interviewed and short-listed.

Former CEO, Frank O’Donoghue, left the job in July after eight years at the helm to set up Waterford’s newest magazine, Business Waterford.

Ms Leech was tight-lipped about her expected appointment and chamber president Frank Dolphin declined to comment.

Among the chamber’s major projects are the campaign for university status for Waterford Institute of Technology; delivering better road, rail and air links out of the south-east and getting more high-end jobs for the region.

Ms Leech has held a number of prestigious and sometimes controversial positions.

She was election campaign manager for Transport Minister Martin Cullen and earned €10,000 a month as his PR adviser.

It was her post as PR adviser to the minister at the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Department of the Environment which caused most controversy.

However a comprehensive report by Former Revenue Commissioner Dermot Quigley found that, although the initial suggestion of Ms Leech for the position at the OPW came from then Minister of State Mr Cullen, there was nothing improper in the awarding of the contracts to her.

Mr Quigley also found all of the work which Monica Leech Communications had been paid for came within the terms of official contracts and that her work was regarded by civil servants to have been carried out to a high standard.