Cullen PR saga - Contract controversy rumbles on

Today will see the formal end of the contractual association between Monica Leech and the Department of the Environment, but the saga it generated has still to run its course.

Among the lingering memories of one of the most talked about contracts of any communications adviser to any minister will be the three-day trip to a tropical island resort with the then Environment Minister Martin Cullen, his spokesman and his personal secretary.

It emerged the trip to Langwaki cost the taxpayer €3,000, but was separate to the business of a 26-strong Irish delegation to Malaysia in February of last year.