Broke State shells out €40,000 on 'spin' website
Friday July 16 2010
THE Government may be broke, but it has managed to shell out about €40,000 on a glossy new website devoted to presenting the most positive spin on its daily news.
Modelled on a news agency, merrionstreet.ie allows the Government's highly paid spin doctors to "report" on the work of Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his ministers.
Fed up with being unable to control the bad news, which has been frequent, Mr Cowen now has an uninterrupted outlet for his musings, free from pesky analysis and less than gratifying comment.
The Government launched Merrionstreet.ie, this week by publicising Mr Cowen's trade mission to the US.
It states that it is "intended to give people a view of Government from the vantage point of Government Buildings itself". And it also says that its central task will be to take a variety of events and "report on them objectively, in the language of a news bulletin".
But there are questions about whether this is a good use of taxpayers' money -- and how much it will cost to run the website -- considering that photos and videos of Mr Cowen and his ministers are being constantly uploaded.
Fine Gael Roscommon-South Leitrim TD Denis Naughton said he was concerned about the launch of the new website.
"I hope this isn't being used in a partisan manner to shore up the Taoiseach's popularity," he said.
The website includes audio and video footage of "doorsteps" -- Mr Cowen's interviews with journalists which are often conducted on the doorsteps of buildings.
The service is designed to get Mr Cowen in touch with the world of Twitter and Facebook and other "social media".
Personal
Although it allows Mr Cowen to "tweet" to voters, so far the tweets have been confined to announcements of his press statements rather than any personal messages.
But Mr Naughton pointed out that there was already an excellent site devoted to politics -- KildareStreet.com -- which was providing information privately on the Dail and Seanad business.
"If KildareStreet can provide this information free of charge to the public, surely it could be extended to provide information on the Government as well," he said.
The Merrionstreet.ie is modelled on the public websites of other state leaders, particularly the Number10.gov.uk website run by the British prime minister.
The Department of the Taoiseach could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
- Michael Brennan
Irish Independent
