600,000 PR contract pulled as OPW is accused of treating public purse like ‘monopoly money’ [Video]

A public relations contract worth €600,000 was sensationally pulled last night by the Office of Public Works, amid claims the OPW is treating the public purse like “monopoly money”, writes Craig Hughes.

The PR contract was withdrawn just hours after it was published – and the Dáil’s powerful Public Accounts Committee is set to further examine the OPW’s spending.

The State agency has been embroiled in a series of controversies concerning projects such as €1.43m spent on a security hut at Government Buildings and €335,000 on a bike shelter at Leinster House.

This is in addition to a €35,000 spend for its now former chairman to attend a prestigious business school in Paris for five days less than a year before he retired.

Yesterday, the OPW published a tender seeking to spend an estimated €600,000 on a new PR contract for services over three years that will be “supporting the OPW’s communications, …