Leech appointment - Hard answers or Cullen must resign
It is astonishing to think that Ms Leech, whose experience of the PR business is relatively limited, is earning more than the wage bill of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s entire press corps for a full year.
For the minister, during his tenure in the Department of Environment, to give a plumb job with an unprecedented salary rate to a political supporter and confidante smacks of cronyism of the most blatant kind.
Whether or not Mr Cullen was involved in a personal relationship with Ms Leech, which he vigorously denies, is neither here nor there. As a rule, unless the private affairs of politicians conflict with the public interest, they should not be subject to publicity.
But if a minister is perceived as abusing his position by placing a friend in an excessively lucrative job that is paid from the public purse, then hard questions have to be asked - and answered.
Up to now Mr Cullen has failed to satisfactorily answer those questions. So, here we put them to him again:
Why was Ms Leech initially appointed by you, as Environment Minister, to work on the National Spatial Strategy without putting her contract out to tender?
Why did she get the job when Dublin PR company Drury Communications had already been working on the project for the previous two years?
Why was it necessary to appoint Ms Leech when you already had a politically appointed special adviser, press officer and personal assistant in place?
Why did you not reveal that Ms Leech worked on your general election campaign in 2002 just weeks before her appointment?
Why were only three companies invited to tender for the longer term contract when, under the rules, five companies should be invited to tender?
Why was Ms Leech, who had little PR experience, awarded the €1,200-a-day contract when one of the top consultants in the country, Carr Communications, sought a fee of between €600 and €700 a day?
As communications consultant, what policy issues did Ms Leech influence in her post?
What were her exact duties?
Why was it necessary for Ms Leech to accompany you on eight official trips abroad, ranging from Malaysia to New York and Paris, when in many cases a senior press officer was in the entourage?
Unlike Britain, where ministers do the honourable thing when found out, resignation is not a word found in the lexicon of Irish politics.
In yet another example of principled British politics, the Home Secretary David Blunkett has resigned over allegations that he fast-tracked a visa application for his lover’s nanny. The issue was not that he had an adulterous relationship but that he abused his office.
It is moot whether standards for people in public life here are lower than in Britain or, whether Irish people have become inured to a culture of not resigning. Whatever the explanation, despite a litany of financial debauchery, political scandals and gaffes, no FF minister has ever fallen on the sword.
Aware that this controversy will not go away, the Taoiseach has announced plans for an independent inquiry. That should run separately to a probe by the Standards in Public Office Commission into contracts awarded during Mr Cullen’s time at Environment and the Office of Public Works.
The minister’s answers to date are an insult to the intelligence of the Irish people and raise doubts about his fitness for public office. This matter goes to the core of public confidence in our politicians and in the governance of this country.
If the inquiry fails to elicit satisfactory answers from Mr Cullen, he should resign or be sacked.
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