Cullen adviser sat on interview panel that awarded e-voting contract

MARTIN CULLEN’S former election campaign manager sat on the interview panel that awarded the €4.7 million electronic voting publicity contract to so-called “friends of Fianna Fáil”.

The minister for the environment’s PR adviser Monica Leech works on a contract basis, worth more than €10,000 a month, since being appointed after the 2002 general election.

Ms Leech was a member of the tendering group which granted the €4.7m contract to a consortium, which included a company run by former FF general secretary Martin Macken and former Taoiseach’s adviser Jackie Gallagher. The involvement of Q4 Public Relations resulted in accusations of cronyism as Fine Gael claimed the contract was given to “friends of Fianna Fáil.”