Ahern calls for an end to glossy brochures
Defending plans to cut the budget of the Equality Authority by 43% next year, Mr Ahern told the Dáil a lot of this money was spent on excessive launches and PR campaigns.
Mr Ahern said: “I have made it clear to the Equality Authority and all other bodies under the aegis of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform that I do not want them to produce any more glossy brochures or reports. Such documents should be made available on a disk. I do not want any more of the fanfare we have seen when reports are launched.”
Labour’s Pat Rabbitte told the minister to practise what he preached: “Every morning my desk seems like it is covered in confetti because of the number of the glossy brochures with photographs of the minister landing on it.”
Fine Gael spokesman Charles Flanagan said: “The minister has destroyed the authority, in effect, in a most vindictive way. He is well aware that a stake is being put through the authority’s heart because many of its decisions have embarrassed him and his government colleagues in recent times.”
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties told an Oireachtas Committee it was facing an increased workload as it becomes a “substitute” for the Equality Authority.
