Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has welcomed Wicklow County Council’s advertisement for the provision of Media/Communication Consultancy services to the local authority.

De Burca says that the advertisement of the service is a vindication of the position which she and other councillors took on Wicklow County Council when they discovered that a media consultant had been working for the council for a three year period without any proper contract, and without the position having been put out to tender.

“Those councillors who were concerned about this issue pointed out that the failure of the council to put the position out to tender was in breach of the guidelines issued by the Department of the Environment” says de Burca. “Also the idea that somebody could be working on a month-to-month basis for a three-year period without a proper contract needs to be questioned”.

De Burca says that the closing date for receipt of submissions to the council in respect of the media/consultancy services is Friday 16^th February. “I am very happy to see this situation being regularised” says de Burca. “Wicklow County Council as a public service employer should be leading by example. Hopefully we have now seen the end of ad hoc consultancy arrangements in the council that are not in keeping with the Department’s own guidelines”.