Findings: Minister for Transport left himself open to 'perception of impropriety' by proposing supporter for PR work
The Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, left himself open to a "perception of impropriety" when he proposed one of his supporters for contract work in State bodies which were under his political control, an official inquiry has found.
Former Revenue chairman Mr Dermot Quigley said the Minister did not breach any rules over the public relations contracts from the Office of Public Works and the Department of the Environment which were secured by his associate, Ms Monica Leech.
However, Mr Quigley was unable to find an exact precedent for the OPW contract and said that the value of the Department of the Environment contract was "well in excess" of the threshold above which contracts must be advertised in the EU Journal.
He also revealed in his report that Mr Cullen said it would not be feasible to appoint Ms Leech to the staff of his office in the Department because he knew she had other clients "and would not be available full-time".
While stating that the monitoring of Ms Leech's work under both contracts was inadequate, Mr Quigley said the OPW and the Department bodies were very happy with her work.
Mr Quigley said Ms Leech's support work at various international meetings may not have been fully within the scope of her contract for the Department.
Mr Quigley said the senior Irish official involved in most of the eight meetings abroad that Ms Leech attended with the Minister considered that her participation was within the scope of her contracts.
However, Mr Quigley had a "particular concern" about a potential overlap between Ms Leech's role and that of his Department's press officer. Mr Cullen told him that the press officer was primarily focused on domestic issues of relevance.
Mr Quigley warned of risks in a Minister proposing a named person for a contract and said this could give rise to perceptions that an associate of the Minister was getting special treatment or seeking to influence the outcome of a procurement process.
Ms Leech received €265,806 in fees and €25,819 in travel, subsistence and mobile phone expenses under contracts she secured when the Minister was in charge of the OPW and the Department of the Environment.
Mr Quigley said there was no requirement to initiate a tender process for the contracts in the first instance because of the Minister's view he was in urgent need of communications advice.
On the OPW contract, the report said Mr Cullen made the initial suggestion that Ms Leech might be of assistance in Waterford but did not issue an instruction that she be retained by the office.
The report said the specific need to raise the OPW's profile in Waterford "had already been recognised" by the office because it had a number of significant projects under way in the region.
"I have established that, at the time, there was precedent with OPW for the use of a consultant as an information co-ordinator on one major project , but I was unable to establish a precise parallel for a similar arrangement for consultancy services for any other regional location."
Mr Quigley said the OPW's procurement of services from Ms Leech was broadly in line with norms and practice. However, he said the business need and reasons for urgency - as a basis for departure from competitive tendering - should have been fully documented.
Mr Quigley said Ms Leech's initial contract with the Department of the Environment was offered in advance of a formal tender process on the basis of a suggestion from the Minister.
"The subsequent approach to the tendering competition was broadly in line with the norms and practices as reflected in the guidelines. Apart from discussing the requirements for the job, there is no evidence that the Minister sought to intervene in the process which was run by the Department."
Mr Quigley was satisfied that the evaluation of the two bids was carried out with integrity and fairness by the Department.
He said the secretary general of the Department, Mr Niall Callan, "did not express any dissenting views either orally or in writing to the Minister" in relation to Ms Leech's contracts.
