Ministers call for controversial communications unit to be kept

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was “blindsided” by several of his ministers yesterday in the Cabinet after they called for the strategic communications unit (SCU) to be kept.

Sources have said there was strong support for the much criticised unit to be retained, despite the Taoiseach’s strong suggestion on Monday that it will be disbanded pending a review.

Several ministers, both Fine Gael and Independent, spoke of the need to avoid any further use of the unit for narrow party gain but that the move to modernise Government communications was too important to jettison.