Lucinda Creighton lobbying firm admits ‘error’ in Dáil request for pharma client

A lobbying firm founded by former minister of state Lucinda Creighton has admitted it made an “error” in attempting to influence the Dáil schedule on behalf of a big pharma client. Vulcan Consulting last week wrote to the Dáil’s business committee – which decides the agenda for the house – asking that Dáil time be put aside to discuss cardiovascular screening, one of the areas its client MSD Ireland specialises in. The approach was unanimously rejected by the committee. It is understood that Government Chief Whip Mary Butler made the committee aware of the approach last week, telling members it was “highly inappropriate that a PR firm would be hired by a pharmaceutical firm to try and dictate the Dáil schedule”. READ MOREIn an email last week, an executive from the firm asked the committee to “consider providing for Dáil speaking time on the issue of cardiovascular screening in Ireland”. Members privately described the approach as highly unusual. One said that while advocacy groups, charities and NGOs might regularly contact the committee on their area of interests, such an approach from a private entity was extremely rare, if not entirely unprecedented. In a statement, Vulcan Consulting said it has been “supporting MSD Ireland in raising awareness among relevant political stakeholders of cardiovascular health policy”.It added: “In the course of this work, Vulcan sent a piece of correspondence in error. We accept full responsibility for this error.”People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett, who is a committee member, said he “strongly supported the view at the meeting that this was totally inappropriate and private companies with a vested interest, who stood to benefit from Oireachtas decisions, shouldn’t be trying to set the Dáil schedule”.He continued: “If that were allowed to happen, it would amount to major corporate interference in the democratic process which is totally unacceptable.”Labour TD for Fingal East Duncan Smith, who is his party’s whip and a committee member, said Mary Butler “dealt with it very effectively”, with a “short, sharp message that this is inappropriate, to which she received unanimous agreement from the committee”.Public records show MSD has directly lobbied officials or politicians on 22 occasions so far this year, including on issues such as rare diseases, vaccines, cancer outcomes, pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policy. Vulcan Consulting was founded by Creighton, who is a former minister of state for European affairs. She was elected for Fine Gael in Dublin South-East in 2007 but lost the whip in 2013 after voting against the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, which aimed to ease restrictions on abortion. She went on to found political party Renua, but lost her seat in the 2016 general election and left politics. She set up the firm in 2016, offering clients work on Irish and EU public policy objectives.Public records show Vulcan has lobbied in Ireland on behalf of several pharma and life sciences companies, as well as Horse Racing Ireland, consulting, technology and agricultural firms.In its approach, Vulcan had told the committee that cardiovascular disease kills about 9,000 people in Ireland every year and is the country’s leading cause of disability, costing the State an estimated €1.7 billion, with €782 million of that in direct healthcare spending. It said that high cholesterol and high blood pressure often show no symptoms until someone has a heart attack or stroke, but can be picked up by GPs. “While Ireland has the technology and clinical expertise to facilitate these checkers, it lacks the coordinated national infrastructure to ensure that people are being screened early enough to identify issues at a point where more serious complications are still avoidable.”