Leo Varadkar to talk on value of communications

How does the Government try to win positive headlines for the Health Service Executive when the media is naturally drawn to cover everything that goes wrong for it?

It’s a question that may be answered today by Minister for Health Leo Varadkar, who will “share his insights into the challenge of communicating a strategic, long-term message” in a fast-moving news cycle at the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) annual conference in Dublin.

Broadcaster Matt Cooper will conduct a one-to-one interview – “not quite a fireside chat”, says the organiser – with Varadkar.

The conference’s theme this year is “the strategic imperative of communications” and making the business case for PR (ideally by getting a seat at the boardroom table).

The Minister is sure to have a few things to say on the value of communications for the Government. In January, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin claimed the Fine Gael Minister didn’t put “half the amount of effort into the day job as he has into PR”.