Former Mayor of Limerick disappointed over council's 'controversial' advert in magazine
A FORMER Mayor of Limerick says he has a "huge difficulty" with local authority spending more than €2,000 on an advert in Public Sector Magazine.
Cllr Liam Galvin revealed on RTÉ's Liveline that Limerick City and County Council took out the advert more than five years ago around the same time it received an award from the publisher of the magazine.
Over the last week, the taking out of adverts in Public Sector Magazine by State agencies and government departments has been questioned by broadcaster Joe Duffy on Liveline.
Several business owners have told the programme on RTÉ Radio 1 they were asked to pay for an advert in exchange for getting an award from Public Sector Magazine.
Mr Duffy has also questioned if the magazine's circulation figures have been independently validated.
Speaking on the programme this week, Cllr Galvin, expressed his disappointment over Limerick City and County's Council's decision to take out an advert - during the term of his mayoralty.
"This was all done in good faith I must say, by our local authority but it is disappointing because this is tax-payers money and I have a huge difficulty over this," he said adding that the cost of the advert was €1,695 plus VAT.
"It is a lot of money in today's climate considering the economy and what Covid has done to us and it's unfortunate that this has happened but I want to reiterate that, in fairness to our local authority, they did it in good faith - they were trying to promote us as a single authority and it was done in good faith at the time," he added.
While Limerick City and County Council has declined to comment on the controversy, a press release which was issued when it won the award in September 2016 remains on its website.
"Public Sector Magazine has announced Limerick City and County Council as one of the principal winners in the publication's award scheme," states the press release, which also features a photograph of Cllr Galvin with several council officials and the award.
"The Local Authority's Economic Development & Planning Department has been named outright winner of the Business Services Management Award category of the magazine's annual ‘Excellence in Business’ Awards to Local Government and Public–Private Partnerships (PPP)," it adds.