Unit not a spin machine, claims Government

THE Government last night insisted its media monitoring unit is non-political, despite an internal departmental memo comparing its role to a key part of Tony Blair's infamous spin machine.

The revealing memo compared the Communications Unit, which costs the taxpayer €300,000 a year, to the British Labour Party's infamous quick response unit in Millbank, London, and said its job was to swiftly warn ministers about controversies.

"The principal function of the unit is to act as an early warning system to Government about critical/negative media coverage and ensuring the relevant Government department is in a position to respond quickly," the memo says.

The description was contained in an embarrassing staff circular sent to civil servants - recruiting staff for the unit - and obtained by Fine Gael.

The Government said last night the Communications Unit merely provides a media information service to ministers and their departments by furnishing daily news updates and transcripts.

FG leader Enda Kenny's questioning of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern about the unit's work sparked a frantic investigation by the Government press office to establish the memo's origin.

After the FG leader called for an investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Standards In Public Offices Commission into the unit's activities, Mr Ahern said he would have no problem with any inquiry.

But Mr Kenny said there was quite a difference between Mr Ahern's version of the unit's work and the official circular which outlined clearly political positions.

The Communications Unit merely monitors the news and does not make any political assessments or script advice on how to respond, Mr Ahern responded.

"They do not participate in any of that. As far as them being in the same business as Millbank, an operation with which I am reasonably familiar, they would not do 0.001% of what Millbank does," he said.

Last night, a Government spokesperson said the description in the recruitment memo was based on an early draft dating back to 1997 before the Communications Unit was set up.

"This model was never implemented," the spokesperson said.

The Government Information Services said the memo is totally inaccurate and does not reflect the fully transparent nature of the Communications Unit operations.

"The model described in the erroneous notice could not be further removed from the current operation, which is scrupulously apolitical," the spokesperson said.