MINISTER FOR Health James Reilly has confirmed he is paying a public relations company for advice from a personal ministerial allowance that is outside of his department’s budget.
Dr Reilly said he had paid €15,000 last year to the Communications Clinic, whose directors are public relations consultant Terry Prone and Tom Savage, the chairman of the RTÉ board.
The money was paid from a €41,000 secretarial allowance which Ministers receive from the Oireachtas.
The Department of Health has its own press office staffed by civil servants. Separately, Dr Reilly also has a press adviser who he appointed on taking office last year.
Dr Reilly pointed out that Ministers qualified for secretarial allowances from the Oireachtas.
“The vouched allowance option allows a Minister to claim fully vouched expenses of up to €41,092 [2012 level] for a range of services including public relations,” he said.
“In 2011, I obtained communications advice related to the health reform agenda from the Communications Clinic. My department does not pay for this service and the cost [€15,000 in 2011] was met out of the allowance I refer to above.”
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said last night payments made from ministerial allowances are exempt from rules governing public procurement.
These rules specify that public bodies must seek a number of quotes or publicly tender for services depending on the amount of money involved.
A spokesman for Dr Reilly said last night that the rules governing the ministerial allowance specifically allowed for the money to be used for public relations advice.
He said under the arrangement with the Communications Clinic, the company provided advice on the wider health reform programme. He said there was also an element of script-writing involved in the contract with the company.
Ministers currently qualify for a number of separate allowances and expenses, including the public representation allowance element of the parliamentary standard allowance. This allows Ministers to claim an unvouched amount of €12,000 per annum or a fully vouched amount up to €20,000 per annum. It can be used to meet expenses related to, among other things, constituency offices, mobile phones, home telephones, newspaper advertising.