'Friends of Fianna Fáil' get 4.5m State contract

MARTIN Cullen yesterday denied any favouritism in his awarding of a 4.5 million publicity contract to a consortium, which includes a former Fianna Fáil general secretary and the Taoiseach's ex-advisor.

The contract to run an advertising and information campaign on electronic voting for next year's elections was awarded to McConnells advertising agency and PR firm Q4.

It is estimated Q4 will make more than 1 million from the deal, which was subject to a full public procurement process.

Q4 was set up earlier this year by former FF general secretary Martin Mackin, former Taoiseach's advisor Jackie Gallagher and former Eircom press officer Gerry O'Sullivan.

The firm has orchestrated the hospitality industry's campaign against the smoking ban.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Fine Gael environment spokesman Bernard Allen challenged Mr Cullen to outline the procedures followed when hiring consultants.

"There is a suspicion that these consultancy jobs are for friends of Fianna Fáil when one of its former general secretaries is a member of one such company," he said.

Mr Cullen immediately rejected any suggestion that favouritism was at play saying he had no part to play in the decision.

"The deputy is not casting any aspersion on me. As he knows there is a public procurement process," he responded.

Afterwards a spokesman for the minister added. "We absolutely reject anything he might be implying.

"The contract for the education and information campaign on the electronic voting was awarded following a public procurement process to McConnells, supported by Q4," he said.

A total of 18 firms, including a who's who of the PR industry, tendered for the lucrative contract.

Defending the cost of the contract, Mr Cullen said voters in all constituencies were entitled to the same care and attention that was given to the information campaign run in the last general election's three constituencies. That publicity campaign by PR firm, Carr Communications, cost 133,045.

Q4's Jackie Gallagher, widely regarded as one of the leading PR consultants in the country, also rejected the charge.

"This was done through a fully open and transparent public procurement process," he said.

The campaign, to be run in the lead up to next summer's local and European elections, is one of the most extensive ever run by the State and will include everything from TV and radio advertisements to leaflets for every house and a roadshow.