Tusla spends 90k on PR

The Child and Family Agency, Tusla, has spent over €90,000 on public relations in just over a year, in addition to the agency’s own internal communications office, for services that include preparing officials for Oireachtas committees appearances.

A Labour TD described the spend as “troubling” and called on the agency to focus on the safeguarding of children, instead of “image and spin”.

Tusla revealed the amount to the Irish Examiner after the agency’s appearance at the Oireachtas committee on children and youth affairs, where TDs and senators questioned chief executive Fred McBride and other Tusla officials over a Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report on failures within the agency.