PR adviser appointment to be subject of inquiry

THE circumstances surrounding Martin Cullen’s appointment of his €1,200 a day PR adviser, Monica Leech, is to be investigated by an independent body.

Yesterday the Taoiseach conceded that the hiring of the then Minister for the Environment’s communications consultant needed an inquiry and agreed that the controversy was not going to go away.

If the Dáil Public Accounts Committee was not going to investigate the matter thoroughly, then an outside authority could be instructed to look into it, Mr Ahern accepted.