Communications blame game backfires on Lenihan

AN ATTEMPT by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to deflect blame for his communications’ failures has backfired badly.

It came after he suggested comments by the Government Press Office were an effort to damage him, but admitted he was ultimately responsible for disseminating his department’s message.

The fresh row centred on a comment in December, from the Government Press Secretary Eoghan Ó Neachtain, that the maligned public relations’ material circulated in advance of the IMF bailout was prepared by the Department of Finance.