Cullen will not resign over PR controversy

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen said he had no intention of resigning over the controversy surrounding the conditions of a PR contract awarded to his Waterford constituency supporter, Monica Leech.

Mr Cullen yesterday declined to comment on the progress of the inquiry.

Speaking in Dublin after the launch of a campaign to promote the switchover of speed limits to kilometres, the minister claimed he was “publicly refrained” from making any statement on the matter. However, he added: “I fully support the process and look forward to its outcome.”

The enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the awarding of contracts to Ms Leech by the Department of the Environment and the Office of Public works is not now expected to be compete until the end of this month, at the earliest.

It is being conducted by the former head of the Revenue Commissioners, Dermot Quigley, who has already received files from both Environment and the OPW and spoken to officials in both departments.

The Irish Examiner understands that an official at the Department of the Taoiseach has been seconded to assist Mr Quigley assemble all the relevant files.

According to Government sources, the process of gathering all documentation is almost complete. No time limits were specified with regards to the completion of the enquiry in the terms of reference and its duration will thus be determined by Mr Quigley. However, the sources said the expectation remains that the inquiry will be relatively short and that it will be completed by the end of the month.

The inquiry will seek to establish the full circumstances surrounding the awarding of the contracts to Ms Leech, who has been paid over €300,000 by the Department of Environment to date for ongoing media consultancy work. She was paid almost €43,000 for her work for the OPW between December 2001 and June 2003.

Mr Quigley will seek to ascertain if the work carried out by the Waterford public relations consultant differed in any respect from that specified in the contracts.

A separate inquiry by the State’s ethics watchdog into the controversial contracts is also continuing.

In December, the Standards in Public Offices Commission (SIPO) ordered Environment and the OPW to produce all relevant documents, including email correspondence and notes written on ‘post-it’ stickers.

Once it receives the documentation, SIPO will decide if there are grounds for carrying out a full investigation into the awarding of the contracts. However, that enquiry could take at least a year to complete.

Ms Leech was initially taken on by the Department of the Environment by means of a temporary single tendering process but was awarded her present contract after a full tendering process in February 2003.

In the course of a radio interview in December, Mr Cullen said that soon after becoming minister in June 2002, he had concluded the Department urgently required a person with PR expertise to assist him on a number of major projects, including the roll-out of the National Spatial Strategy.

It subsequently emerged PR company Drury Communications had been working on that project.