The public relations expert hired by Mr Cullen during his time in the Department of the Environment has carried out "good work", said Mr Cullen's successor, Mr Dick Roche.
Questioned about the contract that has so far earned Waterford-based Ms Monica Leech over €300,000 since 2002, Mr Roche defended Mr Cullen's decision to hire her on a short-term contract in 2002 without a tender.
"The consultant in question has carried out good work for the Department. There has been no question about her professionalism. That is important to record. I met the consultant in question twice.
"I want to put on record that I was impressed by her professionalism, capacity and, in particular, her ability to render complex issues more easily accessible," he told Fine Gael TD, Mr Fergus O'Dowd.
"The public service has many qualities, but having the best communications skills is not necessarily among its top qualities," said the Minister for the Environment, who was appointed at the end of September.
Though Mr Roche publicly supported the Minister and Ms Leech last week, his decision to restate his comments formally in the Dáil is a significant boost for his Cabinet colleague.
Mr Roche rejected charges that Ms Leech, a prominent political supporter of Mr Cullen in Waterford, had been involved at unnecessary expense in the preparation of the National Spatial Strategy.
Questioned on RTÉ's News At One radio programme last week, Mr Cullen laid great emphasis on the workload created by the National Spatial Strategy to justify Ms Leech's recruitment at such short notice.
Another PR company, Dublin-based Drury Communications, was paid €383,556.85 for developing a public information campaign for the National Spatial Strategy between June 2000 and December 2002.
Following Ms Leech's recruitment after June 2002, she became Mr Cullen's "communication co-ordinator" and became a member of the steering group that reviewed the publicity surrounding the spatial strategy.
An extra briefing note, which was not read out by Mr Roche yesterday evening because of a lack of time said: "During the run-up to the finalisation and launch of the NSS, it was decided that the communications campaign should be intensified considerably.
"Additional work was initiated on the presentation aspects of the strategy, media briefings, publicity and other briefing material. A communications consultant, who had been appointed in July 2002 under a more general contract to assist the Minister and the Department on strategic communications matters, participated actively in that work and attended related team meetings."
