Department for Regional Development and Press Freedom?

Whatever you say, say nothing

The following email exchanges are between Paul Priestly, the then Permanent Secretary at the Department for Regional Development (DRD), and Brian White, the Director of DRD's Ports and Public Transport Division. Is it common for editors and journalists from the mainstream media to be offered Ministerial or Civil Service 'guidance'?

26 August 2008 11:54

Brian

The attached Newsletter article appears to conflate a number of (hopefully) separate issues in  a rather unhelpful way.

Is  there a case for the Minister, me or Anne writing to the editor in an effort to untangle the issues or should we have Sam McBride in for a briefing to try and build his understanding, or are we better to say nothing? 

Paul

26 August 2008 13:24

Paul, 

I am not certain that Sam McBride or the Newsletter are looking for helpful explanations or to diffuse the story. To the contrary, the fact that the headline is rather more lurid than the story, presumably betrays the editorial stance. 

The issues in the article fall within the range of those which are subject to investigation and I think that we are best saying nothing until  the various investigations are complete. The danger otherwise is that we say something  that turns out to be incorrect or is in some way at odds with  the outcome of  the  investigations. 

It might also appear that we had been trying to pre-empt the investigations. 

You had indicated last week that, once the Assembly returns to business, we would need to be ready to  receive queries and questions about the Rathlin contract. In general, I think that our best course will be to  refuse to go into detail while investigations are being conducted. It would be hard to sustain that line if we had  recently briefed the Newsletter. 

BW

26 August 2008 13:37

Brian 

Thanks.  On reflection, I agree. 

Paul

ENDS

Belfast Harbour Sponsorship of Belfast Media Group Organised New York Conference on June 9 - 10, 2010

Meanwhile, I hear the SDLP-leaning press in Belfast is having another pop at the Board of NI Water. ... Máirtín Ó Muilleoir

Belfast Harbour Commissioners are appointed by Conor Murphy, the SF Minister for Regional Development, so why is Belfast Harbour sponsoring a project which has such close links to Sinn Fein?

Belfast Harbour responses to a series of questions:

1] What was the total expenditure by Belfast Harbour on this conference?

A: Principal sponsorship for the New York, New Belfast conference amounted to £20,000 exc. VAT. An additional cost of £900 was generated through the provision of Belfast Harbour branded delegate bags to organisers of the conference

2] Has Belfast Harbour participated in or financially supported other events organised by Belfast Media Group in the past five years? If so, please list.

A: Belfast Harbour had two delegates in attendance (free of charge) at one session of the City of Quarters Conference in March 2010. This session was held in the Harbour Office and the event was facilitated as part of our annual corporate responsibility programme. Previously Belfast Harbour Office played host to Belfast Media Group’s Top 40 Under 40 Awards. It was one of 104 events staged hosted by Belfast Harbour that year within the 2008 corporate responsibility programme.

3] Can you please provide copies of correspondence between Belfast Harbour (or its representative) and the conference organisers which relate to this event?

A: Please see attached copy correspondence as requested, all of which is in email form.

4] Can you please provide copies of correspondence between Belfast Harbour (or its representative) and the DRD Minister and his officials/staff which relate to this event?

A: No such correspondence exists.

Here are some quotes from the Ó Muilleoir-Belfast Harbour emails:


p4/26 Contracting arrangements - can't write a [£20,000] sponsorship cheque to Belfast Media Group and need an apolitical solution. 01/12/09 9.00am


p3/26 Contracting solution for these not-for-profit events - Make out cheque to our charitable arm Nuachtain Charities, to the Irish Echo, or directly to New York New Belfast Conference which will have its own bank account 01/12/09 9.29am


p6/26 Need you guys to decide on sponsorship - best suggestion is .. that sponsorship cheque is made out to 'New York New Belfast conference' 15/12/09 11.53am

newyorknewbelfast.com is registered to Belfast Media Group so why didn't Belfast Harbour maintain its apolitical stance?

Ó Muilleoir has been appointed as an additional non-executive director (NED) to the Northern Ireland Water Board in the 'community confidence' category. Who decided to make this additional appointment, when was it decided and were the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland informed of the change? The names of the new NEDs were announced on June 30 yet the Ó Muilleoir letter of acceptance is dated July 1.

Paul Priestly, the suspended DRD Permanent Secretary, was a speaker at the Belfast Media Group organised New York conference; he was also involved in the selection of the NEDs. Was an interest declared?

CCNI reply: "The Consumer Council found out about the appointment of the additional NED to the board of NI Water on 30 June 2010."

Commission for Public Appointments and DRD - New Interim NEDs

Appointment of Interim Non-Executive Directors to Northern Ireland Water Board

Police Service of Northern Ireland - More Manpower Statistics Have Gone AWOL 2

The Police Service of Northern Ireland stopped publishing the Patten comparative establishment figures in December 2009 and the monthly update of full time equivalent numbers [pdf file] for each of the ranks has belatedly just been published for September. The snapshot shows that the figures were last published for May 1. There is a deficit of about 400 constables compared to the Patten recommendation for a peace-time service.

[click image to enlarge]

Scribd copy

Perhaps the following queries put to the Policing Board for Northern Ireland, the PSNI watchdog, have had an effect:

"Further to our conversation of September 2, 2010, I'd like PBNI, in its scrutiny role, to address the following issues:

1. The Patten Establishment figures were removed from PSNI monthly manpower statistics in December 2009. Why was this done? Can the figures be restored as they are a useful indicator of deficits in certain ranks.

2. The monthly manpower statistics have not been upgraded since May 1, 2010. Is the failure to maintain updated records not a breach of the ICO Model Publication Scheme?

3. Should student officer numbers be included in the total of regular officers or should they be listed underneath this total?"