Spinning out of control
The real story behind the new Strategic Communications Unit, why Taoiseach Leo Varadkar wanted it and what he wanted it to do
‘The costs could be enormous and can easily be spun, however inaccurately, as a vanity project,” wrote Brian Murphy, the Taoiseach’s most senior adviser, in an email last September.
It was a remarkably prescient observation on a government rebranding exercise proposed by the head of the new Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) John Concannon. For the past six months, Concannon has been tasked with ensuring the government better communicates with its citizens, but instead ...
