BP is responsible for what is widely acknowledged to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history and, at the forefront of their public relations campaign for much of the last few weeks, is BP CEO and media punch bag, Tony Hayward. Not an enviable position to be in, by any means.

The explosion on the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred on April 20th was undoubtedly an operations failure. Mr. Hayward, who has become known via Newsweek as ‘the bumbler from BP’, can not be held directly accountable for this.

However, since these catastrophic events, which resulted in the deaths of 11 workers, he has been scapegoated by the media for his numerous blunders. Last Saturday’s Financial Times led on its front page with ‘BP braced for shake-up at the top’, with a sub-headline suggesting ‘Hayward likely casualty’. This scapegoating must be hard to endure but Hayward has done himself few favours in the media spotlight.

From the very get go, BP’s PR has itself been a disaster. From a communications perspective, the question that is increasingly being asked is: was BP actively trying to reduce its culpability, or was it simply incompetent?

The document given to the U.S. Congress claiming only 5,000 barrels of oil would be leaked a day, and at worst, 60,000, was contradicted by a leaked internal document stating that up to 100,000 barrels could be leaking in to the Gulf every day. At best, this was a serious mistake. Hayward’s subsequent attempts to shift the blame onto Transocean - the company from which BP leased the rig - backfired and, if anything, worsened perceptions of BP.

But things got worse still. In an interview with the UK Guardian, he suggested that the Gulf of Mexico is so large that the amount of oil spilled was tiny, in relative terms. Regardless of how true this may or may not be, 100,000 barrels of oil leaking into the sea - every day - can not be made to sound like a drop in any ocean, for the man or woman on the street.

Hayward’s lack of empathy with those who have suffered from the disaster - and the list grows every day - combined with half hearted attempts at justification have done little to protect either his reputation or that of BP. Another low point arose when images reached the press of oil-drenched birds on the southern coast of the U.S., and Hayward told Sky News: “I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest”.

However, probably Hayward’s worst faux pas was the plaintive plea: “I would like my life back”. Set against the deaths of 11 oil rig workers and thousands of ruined livelihoods, not to mention the potentially irreversible damage to the environment, this staggering lack of consideration indicated both exceptionally poor judgement and a remarkable inability to sense the mood of stakeholders, both within BP and in the wider world.

And then he went sailing. While the fall out from the disaster continued, Hayward took part in a yacht race around the Isle of Wight which got the backs up of everyone in Washington, prompting the White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, to make disparaging remarks about Hayward’s lack of PR skills.

To cap it all off, BP have now been accused of burning turtles. Conservationists in the Gulf of Mexico have witnessed sea turtles that were once on the brink of extinction - as if this could get any worse - being killed in burn fields. They have estimated 425 have been killed so far. Not that BP’s environmental plan could be trusted, as it listed a wildlife expert who died in 2005 as a consultant.

The plan also outlined how walruses could be affected by the spill. There are no walruses in the Gulf. These faults aren’t necessarily directly attributable to Hayward but, at a time when BP is under greater scrutiny than any other organisation in the world, they show that the company, regardless of its wealth, has been completely unprepared to manage the crisis.

This is especially noteworthy because, generally speaking, an organisation’s crisis preparedness is much higher, depending on the possible impact of an accident or mishap at that organisation on the wider world. For example, an accident at a chemical plant or oil refinery will potentially have a huge impact on the surrounding environment. So the larger companies in these industries will usually have exceptionally comprehensive crisis management plans in place. But BP, one of the most vaunted names in the global petroleum industry, floundered.

It is important to note here that it was genuinely an operations failure that the oil flow was not stopped. There were two sets of failed attempts, the first by remotely operated underwater vehicles and the second when huge quantities of cement were used in an effort to plug the well head. The reality is that there is little or nothing that PR can do to solve the problem, when a company is embroiled in this kind of disaster.

But what BP should have done through to its communications was to, firstly, acknowledge the scale of the disaster, not obscure it. Secondly, it should have actively sought to reassure all stakeholders, from the U.S. President to the world’s media to Louisiana fishermen, that the company understood the impact of the problem and was completely focused on finding a solution. Instead, the CEO went for a boat trip.

Thirdly, it should have apologised a lot quicker than it did. Closer to home, we have recently seen how the apology from British Prime Minister David Cameron to those who were bereaved on Bloody Sunday went a long way towards easing the suffering of the relatives of the slain.

Fourthly, however, BP should have made damn sure that it had the right spokesperson out front for the crisis. Hayward’s professional credentials are impeccable - an oilman to his bootstraps - but it looks like the company should have moved a lot quicker to replace him as the face of BP. Instead, Hayward dug himself further into the mire as the oil bubbled up from the ocean floor.

The recent decision by BP to appoint company executive Bob Dudley to manage the clean up shows that it has belated recognised its myriad failings, in operational and communications terms, in the wake of the disaster. In a PR context, Dudley’s origins - he is a native of Mississippi, a Gulf Coast state - mean that he will hopefully be better placed to understand the anger of those worst affected by the spill.

Fundamentally, the whole episode shows that no amount of slick PR tools or careful message management can make an organisation look good when it is clearly guilty of such epic mismanagement. But PR does have a critical role to play openly and transparently communicating BP’s contrition and its continuing efforts to achieve a solution.

PR needs to craft a strategy through which a whole range of audiences - media, legislative decision makers, politicians, and a plethora of others - are kept fully abreast of every relevant step in curbing the leak and addressing the damage to date.

It’s a thankless job, in many ways. BP and Hayward will be hate figures among residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast and environmentalists everywhere for decades to come. But, if the right decisions are made, BP can at least communicate the steps that it is taking to reach a solution and the changes that it is making to ensure that any chance of a re-occurrence is minimised. In this, BP - but perhaps not Tony Hayward - will have all of our best interests at heart.

Simply put, they were arrested for wearing orange dresses as part of an ‘ambush marketing’ ploy by the Dutch beer company, Bavaria.

The case has become a global cause célèbre in recent days. The Governments of South Africa and the Netherlands have exchanged sharp words. FIFA - the worldwide football governing body - has been severely embarrassed by the stunt. It has also been a Godsend for the not insignificant minority of people who have no interest in football but are forced to feign fascination in the World Cup once every four years.

To recap, for those unaware, the two women were among a group of more than 30 Dutch women who attended the Netherlands v Denmark match wearing orange dresses. The group were subsequently removed by stewards en bloc at half time, on the grounds that they were actually at the match as a marketing stunt for Bavaria.

The reason - FIFA prohibits marketing activity at the tournament by brands that have not been formally licensed by the governing body and Budweiser is the ‘official’ beer of the World Cup. However, things became ridiculously heavyhanded, with two of the women being carted off to a police station and subjected to prolonged questioning, before being eventually freed from custody.

First and foremost, it seems unfair that two young women should be subjected to this kind of treatment for nothing more than the wearing of a dress. In fact, it could be argued that their removal owed more to overzealous cameramen than to anything they were wearing or doing. Every time there was a pause in the action, the camera would pan over the crowd before focusing - again - on the group of women.

Secondly, however, the case has brought to attention the whole concept of ambush marketing and why companies do it. So what is it, precisely? In a nutshell, ambush marketing is where a brand is promoted at an event at which it is not an official sponsor.

It should be noted here that Bavaria have previous in this department. At the 2006 World Cup, Bavaria issued Dutch fans with leeuwenhosen (basically, orange coloured lederhosen with lion’s tails - extremely random!). As Budweiser was, then as now, the official beer of the tournament, the garments were confiscated from the wearers and some Dutch fans ended up watching matches in their underwear.

Does it happen in Ireland? Well, actually, it does. In the Guinness All Ireland hurling championship 2005, the boots of the Cork players were sponsored by Corona, a rival drinks company to Guinness.

More recently, the advertising campaign for Hunky Dory’s (extremely difficult to miss, the one with the scantily clad women playing rugby) had the tag line ‘Proud Sponsor’s of Irish Rugby’. However, Hunky Dory’s are in fact the sponsors of All Ireland League Division Three side Navan, not exactly in the same league as the Irish rugby team. As you can imagine, outrage - on a number of levels - ensued.

The question of why companies do it is simple enough. Bavaria has gained more column inches and airtime in the last two weeks than it could ever have hoped to secure through more traditional forms of promotion.

Although risky, ambush marketing can actually be an extremely clever tactic. Regardless of arrest or legal action, it gives brands massive exposure, proving the old adage that, in many cases, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Catherine Collins is an intern at MKC Communications

Objections to the project are being spearheaded by the high profile North-East Pylon Pressure (NEPP) Group, which is campaigning to have the lines put underground and claims that such high-voltage power lines are injurious to health, damage the environment and will devalue property.

EirGrid is citing world-wide research data to demonstrate that these power lines pose no health risk, point out that undergrounding is massively more expensive, and that overhead lines are used for 97 per cent of on-shore high voltage electricity transmission across Europe (Declaration: EirGrid is a client of MKC Communications).

Recently too, some of our best known musicians, including Paul Brady, Moya Brennan of Clannad, and Glen Hansard, took part in a fund-raiser for the Alternative to Pylons (ATP) group, which is objecting to EirGrid’s plans to upgrade the electricity system in Co. Donegal, which is vital to the county’s economic development, including any possible inward industrial investment.

Although this project has been before Bord Pleanala twice, and work is due to eventually start shortly, the objectors remain undaunted. “We cannot sit on the sidelines and watch our landscape being spoiled”, says Moya Brennan.

Hard to believe, therefore, that back in the 1980s we built two 400 kV lines running in an arc from the Moneypoint power plant in Clare to the outskirts of Dublin, totalling a length of 440 k, or 275 miles. Communities continue to live and prosper along those routes. But consistency and reliance on facts have never got in the way of all kinds of scaremongering by Ireland’s perennial objectors.

Of course, the Daddy of them all when it comes to our objector culture has to be the Corrib gas project in North Mayo. Ireland currently imports 96% of its gas, and our main supplier, the UK, is now a net importer of gas. At peak production, Corrib will supply up to 60 per cent of Ireland’s gas needs, and the field has an expected 15 year lifespan. Meantime, we spend €6 billion annually on imported fossil fuels.

During peak construction last year, up to 1,500 people were employed. If it was on-stream, Corrib would attract further exploration activity, increase Ireland’s energy independence, provide good employment for 130 people, and vital Exchequer revenues through a 25 per cent corporation tax rate.

The reality is that while Corrib was discovered 14 years ago, we still don’t know when gas will be brought ashore. Originally budgeted as a €700 million project, the final cost of developing this gasfield could now reach €2.5 billion.

Now in a bid to complete the piping of the gas from the off-shore field to the processing terminal at Bellanaboy, and to satisfy Bord Pleanala, Shell is proposing to build a tunnel under Sruwaddacon Bay. This tunnel will be 4.9 kms long, making it the longest tunnel in the country.

Industry experts estimate that the tunnel construction will cost €150 million, but of course before work commences there will be a further statutory consultation period, and yet another Bord Pleanala oral hearing. All going well, the tunnel might get the go-ahead by the end of this year.

However, it is still too early to state when Corrib gas will flow - because no one knows what kind of conditions Bord Pleanala will impose on the developers for the construction of the tunnel. Even if the gas starts flowing into the Bord Gais national grid by the end of 2012 - Corrib will have taken ten years longer than originally planned.

Contrast all this will Shell’s experience in Norway. There, the Ormen Lange gasfield - 40 times bigger than Corrib - was discovered in 1997; it required 20,000 construction workers to build the onshore terminal facility, and an underwater pipeline was constructed from Norway to the UK. In 2007, ten years after discovery, Shell started selling gas to the UK. Corrib, which is tiny in comparison, has fourteen years on the clock and still there’s no clear end in sight.

Our objector culture comes in many hues, but invariably it is dressed up as fear mongering about dioxins and cancers; dirty industries; degradation of our air, water and soil quality (the assumption being of course, that these were heretofore in a pristine condition); and concern for our vital food and tourism industries in our so-called clean, green island.

A more novel objector species has now emerged closer to Dublin, and concerns the proposed Ringsend incinerator project. This has now been 12 years in the permitting and regulatory process, is being sponsored by the Dublin Local Authorities, and has Bord Pleanala and EPA approvals, and since it is a PPP project it was also vetted by the National Development Finance Agency on behalf of the Department of Finance.

Covanta, the US company (Declaration: Covanta is also a client of MKC Communications), contracted to build and operate the plant, is the world’s largest energy from waste (EfW) company, and operates 45 such plants, 41 of them in the United States. It will take three years to build Poolbeg, providing 500 construction jobs.

It will generate 56 MW of electricity, as well as district heating for 60,000 homes. This project ticks all the boxes when it comes to renewable energy, and helping Ireland reach its green energy targets.

And yet, no less a personage than the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is seeking to do everything possible to scuttle it.

But there is another way. And we don’t need to travel very far from Ireland to witness it. Consider France, synonymous with outstanding wines, sumptuous foodstuffs, and wonderful scenery. Yes, it’s also the world’s number one tourism destination with almost 80 million visitors in 2008.

But this is the same France which has 150 domestic waste incinerators. And 78 per cent of its electricity is produced by 58 nuclear reactors (at 19 sites different sites across the country), and carried criss-cross around the country on overhead pylons. This is in pursuit of a national energy policy of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and increasing France’s independence from imported fossil fuels.

Make no mistake - Ireland’s objector culture, and the seemingly endless regulatory review process, is costing the country very dearly in terms of lost investment and jobs. There is now a growing lack of investor confidence in Ireland’s statutory planning processes, and the Strategic Infrastructure Act under which Bord Pleanala was supposed to speed up the examination and permitting of vital projects, is simply not delivering.

It can now take twelve months and more for the Strategic Infastructure Division of the board to decide whether a particular infrastructural project qualifies for this so-called “fast-tracking” route.

Multi-national corporations look for certainty, whether it is in the field of taxation or regulation. Government at every level is very alert to giving assurances about the sanctity of our 12.5 per cent Corporation Tax Rate. It is now time they showed the same level of concern for the growing impact that regulatory uncertainty is having on would-be investors.

A version of this article first appeared in the Sunday Times.

The Council’s proposals doubled the size of the area of the city centre, where a 30kph zone already applied, creating a 1.5km by 2km square in the special speed zone in the heart of the city centre. The intention was to make the heart of the city centre more pedestrian and bike friendly.

The supporting facts for the extension were clear:

• The probability of death for a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a car travelling at 50km/h is 40%, but drops to 5% if the car is travelling at 30km/h;

• The 30kph zone is a residential area - one of the most densely populated in the State with an estimated 19,000 residents;

• It’s the norm for our European neighbours ( there are 2,150 such zones in the UK and many EU cities such as London; Munich; Utrecht; Stuttgart; Barcelona; Graz; Freiburg; Ghent);

• Over an eleven-year period in the zone, 20 pedestrians and 5 cyclists lost their lives, almost 300 were seriously injured and over 3,000 suffered minor injuries due to road traffic collisions;

• Dublin City Centre has 1% of the country’s roads, but has 4-8% of road collision fatalities.

The extension is also a recommendation of the Dept of Transport’s Smarter Travel - a Sustainable Transport Future, which sets out how to reverse the current unsustainable travel and transport patterns in Ireland by 2020.

Yet, while the proposal to extend the zone had gone out to consultation during autumn 2009, and received full Council approval in early October, the public debate around the issue began only days in advance of the extension of the 30kph special speed zone on January 31st.

Given the ability of transport matters to generate major controversy, a major controversy should have been anticipated, and a supporting communications strategy activated.

Despite this, communications explaining and supporting the plan were well below par. When the scheme’s architect Cllr. Andrew Montague spoke on Morning Ireland, the supporting facts never really surfaced. There was confusion among key transport agencies, including the Gardaí, the NRA and RSA, over when the scheme officially started.

The City Council’s variable messaging units, which are located on all national routes entering the city, didn’t help matters. They somewhat misleadingly told drivers ‘New Speed Limits Operating in City Centre’, giving all drivers approaching the city the impression that a blanket 30kph applied within the canals - simply not the case!

Those opposing were forceful. The AA unsurprisingly rubbished the move, many business bodies claimed it would drive their car-owning customers away and the Evening Herald found a new cause célébre.

So how could communications have been improved? Unquestionably, the move could certainly have been more intensively sold in advance of January.

Why not send a small number of journalists, or arrange for their paper’s foreign correspondent, on reporting trips to cities already operating similar limits?

While some support groups eventually surfaced, surely a wider number of supporters could have been brought on board in advance of the Jan 31st launch. Crucially, were there no celebrity champions, employers or businesses out there who could be enlisted as vocal supporters of the initiative? Surely not.

Why not hold a number of family-themed fun walk or cycle event along a route within the area, as a means of generating goodwill and highlighting the positive effects of more pedestrian friendly speeds?

Needless to say, the City Council would be well advised to significantly up its communications game for any future such initiatives. After all, most research shows that members of the public are all in favour of a friendlier, more vibrant city and healthier, greener and safer ways of getting around.

As things turned out, a majority of Dublin City Council could not agree on which way to go and the extended special speed zone, as it currently stands, will remain in force until the original review date in July.

We await further developments on this matter with interest. However, one thing is sure - the benefits of any proposed changes will need to be communicated far more effectively, if these proposals are to become reality.

The two episodes to date have offered enough plotlines to spoil any scriptwriter. The boy with dyslexia who struggles in class. Others with behavioural problems. The confusion of children of immigrant parents who feel torn between two cultures. Break-ins. Fights.

The sensitive, artistic student who is devastated when his application to study at the National College of Art & Design is rejected. The girl who says she hopes to be the first member of her family to formally complete school. In purely story telling terms, it would have been hard to screw this up.

However, from a public relations standpoint, questions have emerged about whether the series has portrayed the school and those within it in a wholly a positive light. The school principal has expressed concern over negative aspects of the school being highlighted in the first episode. There has been some heated discussion on Internet forums on whether it is really fair for the programme makers to show footage of pupils being criticised by teachers in private.

So, a number of PR-related questions arise. Should the school have agreed to participate in the programme? Should the principal have agreed to allow the apparently unrestricted level of access to the school that the programme makers appear to have enjoyed? Should students have been permitted to speak direct to camera, unsupervised? And, the real kicker, does the series reflect well or poorly on the school and the relevant school authorities?

The reality is, of course, that the documentary is possibly the best bit of PR that the school, the Department of Education and the teachers unions will have experienced in years. Sure, some of the teachers come across as a little flaky and ineffective, but the effort they put in to their work and the unstinting devotion to improving the lot of their frequently feckless and ungrateful charges can only inspire admiration.

Similarly, despite his reported concerns about the tone of the series, the principal of the school, Eamon Gaffney, comes across as an exceptional individual, both as a mentor to his students and as leader of the school’s teaching personnel.

Maureen Murray, deputy principal, and Eamonn Gaffney, principal, St Peter's College, Dunboyne

One great sequence shows Gaffney counselling two lads hurtling towards the epic discomfort of the Leaving Cert. The first, a bespectacled young tyro with a brain clearly the size of a small planet, is asked if the school can help any further to nudge him over the points threshold so he can do actuarial studies.

The second is advised on how he needs to focus his efforts if he is to achieve what will be, for him, a successful exam outcome. What is delightful - and reassuring - to observe is that Gaffney comes across as equally interested in both cases.

A quick survey here in Casa MKC posed the query of whether, having seen two episodes of the series, a PR advisor to the school would recommend that it participate in this kind of documentary. The answer was broadly yes, with some reservations over the exposure of kids with learning difficulties and other problems.

Most agreed that the killer virtue of the series, why it has worked so well so far, lies in the fact that it is so real, that the worries and hurts and hopes are so openly revealed, not just among the students, but among the teachers.

So ‘The School’ offers a handy reminder that transparency can be a valid PR tool in its own right. It goes without saying that it’s impossible to be completely open in all circumstances. There are times when confidentiality has to be maintained.

But, in this particular case, by showing the bad as well as the good, the programme has boosted its own credibility, and that of the school and the teachers that it has portrayed. And, for the most part, the stars of the show – those young adolescents with all their angst, their ambition and their distractions – emerge as a very likeable bunch, overall.

Highland Radio yesterday reported as follows: “The iceberg is clearly visible and poses no danger for ships. The island has been capitalising on this latest development, with many visitors over the weekend, and special sightseeing tours being organised. Meanwhile, it’s reported the pubs on the island are offering a special iceberg cocktail containing ice cubes taken from it”.

'Icebergs' off Arranmore, Donegal

Other media also mentioned the iceberg, before those spoilsports in the Donegal News carried an emphatic denial of any truth in the story earlier today.

On RTE, Paschal Sheehy - reporting live from Cork – told us that there was virtually no traffic on one of the busiest road junctions in the southern region of the country. I nearly dropped my hot water bottle in shock. Imagine, no traffic!

The sense of crisis that existed between the studio and their intrepid correspondent was palpable. Apparently a garda car had skidded, the army were on stand-by and an ambulance couldn’t make it up a hill. Not to make little of this, however. If you were a person with heart problems, you’d want that ambulance to reach you in double quick time.

In news terms, ‘if it bleeds then it leads’ as a main story. So the snow has been truly a bonanza for media, where the usual miserable economy and crime stories have been eclipsed by the arctic conditions.

The snow also provides a welcome opportunity for the opposition to take a good dig at the government. The only equal in news terms has been the utterly sensational sex and money scandal which has profound implications for the Northern Ireland establishment.

Several years ago, I helped to organise a major conference in Cavan, which was to be addressed by the CEO of a very large, multinational dairy company. Flying in specially from Denmark, and very much on time, he remarked in his opening comments that it was unusual the meeting was starting over one hour late.

People thought he was apologising. True, there had been a lot of snowfall. That part of the country usually gets it bad and road conditions were poor, so the late arrivals and even later start were understandable.

“However, in my country when there is snow, meetings will still usually start on time”, said the somewhat thorny CEO. “That is with over six feet of snow, and snow chains”. There was a loud chuckle among the audience, which then lapsed into a disgruntled silence when people realised he was making a point about our attitude to snow. Nobody likes foreigners knocking our precious few centimeters of snow.

Depending on what sources you might believe, each week of ‘the snow emergency’ has cost the Irish economy €500 million. The snow crisis may soon reach NAMA-esque proportions, until it melts away of course. The Small Firms Association alone is estimating that massive business losses will result from the freezing weather conditions, which continue to affect various parts of the country.

Apparently, they have been “inundated” with calls from companies reporting business interruption on a wide scale. They say that if half the ‘private’ workforce lost just 30 minutes today, the result is a total loss of 49,825 days at a lost productivity cost of just over €7 million. No mention at all of the people who stand outside smoking for 30 minutes a day, every day.

Ohhh, the MISERY of it all! Can nobody stop this awful stuff falling from the sky? It’s almost too much to bear and in the middle of it, our Transport Minister heads off to Malta for an all too brief family holiday, that he may now regret for some time to come. It was unfortunate timing for him, but hopefully he got some tips from the Order of Malta on how to handle the crisis when he got back.

For the Government’s part, it all comes down to what the Danish man was actually alluding to – attitude and preparedness. Should the Minister have returned and be seen to take control? I think the court of public opinion would say ‘yes’. Could he have actually done any more than was being done? Probably not, as you can only work with the resources that are already planned, in place and already largely deployed, including small numbers of soldiers armed with some pretty ineffective looking shovels.

Critical ’snowballs’ have also been thrown in the UK at their increasingly unpopular government. The UK receives heavy snowfalls each year but, in spite of their formidable resources, that country has been hit very badly this year, including deaths, injuries and economic losses. The weather there is usually far worse than ours.

My own local authority gritted the roads with admirable efficiency for every day of light frost in December, but they let everyone down on New Year’s Eve when not a gritter (or council employee) was to be seen during the first really heavy snowfall in our area. The excuse? Far too costly to pay the overtime. More likely everyone was in the pub. However, it did have a very bad impact on local business activity over the immediately following weekend.

As for local authority services, our bins haven’t been collected since Christmas as our estate is ungritted, dangerous and the bin lorry can’t operate. No real surprise there. Hopefully, they’ll take away the turkey remains later this week, now that the thaw is on.

However, our non-local authority milkman did deliver throughout the snow. Sadly, he broke his toe one night while pushing his van back up our street, but he still delivered again the next day.

Under the circumstances, the Government and local authorities have not really done all that badly, notwithstanding some very serious but temporary inconvenience to the public (with apologies to those with broken limbs and shame on the state of the footpaths). It could have been a lot worse if we hadn’t been on holidays, for much of this time.

The truth is that Ireland doesn’t typically get the arctic conditions we are currently experiencing, and no, we are definitely not well geared up to keep things moving, believing that the real snow and ice will be a brief event, if ever.

But wouldn’t it be a good idea – now – to create the strategic plan for the next time, including better communications with the public? If they can do it for the H1N1 swine flu virus (a plan which is working very well), then what’s a few centimeters of snow? Better to pay for and take the precautions now, than to suffer the public opprobrium when disaster strikes. With an iceberg looming off Donegal, you might possibly be forgiven for NAMA, but nobody will ever forget the snow.

Finally, a word of advice to people going out on the ice over frozen lakes and rivers – visit a psychiatrist soon.

It was no right-wing economist that extolled the merits of starting work at 8am; extending the working roster across seven days; moving redundant staff to where work needed to be done; promoting people solely on merit, and making increments conditional on performance.

Never mind that outside the public service such work practices are taken for granted, or that many people had presumed that the Benchmarking ATM bonanza back in 2003 had secured many of these basic reforms. No, in the parallel universe occupied by some union leaders this is still “revolutionary” stuff.

Peter McLoone, chairman of the Irish Congress of Trade Union’s (Ictu’s) public services committee, characterised adjustments to such standard working conditions as “massive changes in work practices” that would deliver “a massive transformation in the delivery of public services far beyond anything previously contemplated”.

We know too that the de facto price being sought by the unions for this coming of age was about €1 billion. And when a hapless Government was so broke that it had to say no, these latter-day converts to the obvious necessity of reform went apoplectic. Reform was their ball, and they were taking it home. “Offer withdrawn. Game over,” thundered Sheila Nunan of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO).

With each passing day, the union leaders’ “vingence bejasus” mutterings grow ever darker, and even the usually level-headed congress general secretary David Begg is claiming there is a campaign of incitement to hatred against public servants!

It’s time for a reality check. The country is banjaxed. The public sector pay cut, on top of the levy imposed on all of us, is certainly harsh on some workers. But is it as tough as the fate of the 120,000 private sector workers who lost their jobs this year?

And for those in the private sector who have retained their jobs, there has been painful adjustment too. A sense of victimhood on the part of public or private sector workers is not going to get us out of this mess.

Producing goods and services at a competitive price, not only in the multinational (foreign direct investment – FDI) sector, but also across native industries such as food, tourism and IT, is our only long-term salvation. An antiquated public sector is not a luxury we can go on tolerating. It is a significant drag on achieving global competitiveness through its high payroll cost and its failure to deliver top quality outputs.

However belatedly, our society must have those so-called revolutionary reforms. If there is no work for permanent, pensioned workers in Agency/Department A, they must transfer to Agency/Department B. We saw this drag on both efficiency and social solidarity earlier this year when Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin could not redeploy public servants to welfare offices to cater for the explosion in numbers signing on.

It is common knowledge within the Health Service Executive that there are about 6,000 surplus staff there, arising from amalgamating 11 health boards five years ago.

With the teacher unions among the most vocal in the clamour for more industrial action, when are they going to address the McCarthy report findings? Working hours for primary and secondary teachers are among the lowest of all the OECD countries, and holiday breaks among the longest. McCarthy revealed that primary and secondary teachers have 31 and 30 uncertified sick leave days each year; the equivalent of six working weeks. And 52 per cent of all teachers are in receipt of various “management allowances”.

When Garda Representative Association general secretary PJ Stone declaims loudly about the injustice of the wage cuts, and threatens another so-called blue flu or worse, perhaps he might address McCarthy, and that report’s identification of no fewer than 57 allowances in the Garda system, including such beauties as a “Plain Clothes Allowance” and a “Non-Public Duty Allowance”.

The unvouched expenses of TDs and Senators are up there with these other public sector good time legacies, and just as much in need of reform.

Another issue is our national minimum wage. Querying the affordability of the second highest rate in Europe evokes howls from trade unions, but are we not are entitled to wonder how, say, our tourism industry can compete with the UK when our minimum wage is €2-plus per hour higher? In the debate about the exodus of shoppers to the North, this contributor to the grocery sector’s uncompetitiveness is rarely mentioned.

The reality is that we are mired in a deep economic crisis. We may have grown wealthy for a few years by building houses and selling them to one another. But we’ve had to wean ourselves off the mind-altering, performance enhancing property bubble. The touchstone of our survival now is production of goods and services that are competitive abroad.

We need social solidarity like never before. We need critical analysis, not hackneyed class rhetoric. We also need real, inspirational leadership, from our politicians and, yes, from trade union leaders too. Leadership based on facts, not fantasy.

This article first appeared in the print edition of the Irish Times.

All Maclaren single and double umbrella pushchairs sold in the U.S. in the past decade, including the popular Volo and Techno models, were voluntarily recalled by the company, who announced they were proactively providing customers and retailers with a kit to cover the offending joint on the hinge mechanism.

Now, product recalls are a fact of manufacturing life and can occur in organisations that have the most stringent and rigid quality control standards. But, for a company that prides itself on manufacturing the Rolls Royce of strollers, this is just about as bad as it gets.

The company set out with the correct course of action - they contacted the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Office of Compliance and asked for its assistance in conducting a recall under the Fast Track Product Recall Program. This allowed the company to work in partnership with the Commission to develop a response to the ‘crisis’ as the press were becoming aware of the situation.

However, rather than conduct an international exercise to protect the fingers of babies all over the world, the company decided to split hairs over the ‘product recall’ idiom and announced they were not issuing a recall of the same pushchairs in the UK or Europe. A spokesman for Maclaren Europe helpfully explained that the term ‘recall’ is used in the U.S. when corrective action is taken to modify products, as well as for times when products are returned.

Apparently the company failed to appreciate that when the words ‘babies’, ‘fingers’ and ‘amputation’ appear in a sentence together, the meaning of recall is the same, even if the definition has subtle transatlantic nuances.

Considering the company is based in the UK, this was a misguided decision and not one that parents, or indeed the media, were going to accept unquestioningly. The BBC asserted that hundreds of concerned parents had contacted them, some of whom had children injured by the offending buggies.

The National Consumer Agency here described as ‘unacceptable’ the refusal to recall from Irish stockists a pushchair which has been known to cut off children’s fingertips. The European Commission weighed in, saying it shared the concerns of authorities about the level of protection that Maclaren was offering customers in Europe compared to those in the US

Three days after the US product recall, Maclaren bowed to pressure from the media, parenting websites, consumer watchdogs, the Department of Business and the Office of Trading Standards in the UK and offered consumers a free safety device that clips over the potentially dangerous hinge.

The tone of the company’s statements also changed. Earlier statements stated clinically that the products complied with European safety legislation and that the risk of injury was ‘non-existent’ if consumers followed instructions for their use. Later statements used more sympathetic language, with a spokesman admitting that a handful of British children had been injured, adding, “though clearly one is one too many”.

In terms of impacting the brand reputation one reporter, Sean Gregory, summed it up succinctly on www.time.com: “The recall is a nightmare for Maclaren. Prior to Monday, its strollers had a reputation for dependability. Now they’re the ones that could cut kids’ fingers off”.

So, how should a company react when they are obliged to recall a product?

In the first instance, companies have to appreciate that product recalls can, and do happen, so preparation is key. As with any other crisis, communicating the facts in a clear, concise and transparent manner is crucial. Failing to communicate the facts or limiting access to spokespeople can intensify the damage caused by the product recall itself.

Companies should have clear and systematic approach in place to communicate the details of the recall in a proactive manner. Information should be coordinated and tailored according to the receiving media in broadcast, print or online.

A spokesperson should be available for media interviews, and ideally they should be from a position of senior management. The public can be assured they are speaking with authority and that the recall is recognised as a priority at senior levels.

In a product recall situation the most important questions to answer when preparing a statement are

• Does this situation pose a threat to the safety or health of individuals?
• How many people are potentially affected?
• What steps are being taken to rectify the situation?
• Where can people find more information?

If appropriate, an apology or statement of regret should also be included.

In a recent poll, more than half of the 2500 respondents said that if a brand they regularly bought was cited for a recall or safety issue, they would switch to another brand, at least temporarily.

Clearly then communicating in a concise, honest, proactive and informative manner during a product recall or any crisis for that matter, is an absolute if consumer trust is to be restored.

While the event filled the traditional newsprint and broadcast media’s pages and airwaves almost exclusively for the next few days, some of the more interesting parts of the unfolding drama took place on social media channels.

For starters, Thierry Henry’s page on Wikipedia was predictably defaced by an angry Irish fan (but has since been restored to its former state).

Then, there was the decision by Henry to stick his head up on Thursday and Friday via Twitter. He tweeted about the scandal, “RT It would be fair to replay the game, but it’s not my decision…”

However, the phenomenon that caught the mood of hundreds of thousands was the Facebook group: “Petition to have IRELAND Vs FRANCE REPLAYED!!!”

The group was started within an hour of the final whistle on Wednesday and proceeded to flourish, coming into its own last Friday when faced with numerous other “le main de Dieu” inspired Facebook groups. In fact, it has ended up becoming the fastest growing Facebook page ever.

From a standing start on Wednesday night, by mid-day on Thursday the group had 15,000 fans and hundreds of comments from supporters. Friday morning came and membership had jumped to 200,000. By 4.00pm that day, support stood at 242,000 Facebook fans – it’s worth remembering a this point that there are currently about 1,000,000 registered Facebook users in Ireland. During Friday the page counseled fans to call FIFA, write on the FIFA website, tweet their friends.

The time to take things offline and into the real world came on Friday when the organisers sent word that a march was to be organized for 2.00pm on Saturday from Croke Park to the FAI’s Headquarters.

This plan was quickly abandoned when it was discovered that the FAI’s new HQ is in Blanchardstown! Unbowed, the organisers switched location to Lansdowne Road, marching to the French embassy nearby.

By now, Sky News was covering the group and their plans, Joe Duffy’s Liveline was plugging it - things started to build and build. Dustin the Turkey even broke ranks and made a pre-emptive strike outside the embassy on Friday.

On the morning of the main event the online rallying cry read “If all 310,000 of us do it, it will be seen by over 10 million people worldwide!! LET’S GO!!” Sadly what happened next proved the lie on legendary Liverpool manager Bob Paisley’s famous saying that “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

With FIFA, the French Football Federation and the Football Association of Ireland having all ruled out a replay, and MET Eireann forecasting storms, the main event produced not 300,000 fans, but rather 300.

The Petition to have IRELAND Vs FRANCE REPLAYED page’s membership is still growing, and now stands at 471,203. Once it reaches 500,000 it is planned to hand it over to FIFA.

However, in the fast-moving world of Facebook, and in the real world things have already moved on. Indeed, the page’s contributors have already reset their sights on qualification for soccer’s European Championships in 2012.

So while a replay wasn’t achieved, members can claim membership of a new social media record. And, at the very least, didn’t the whole affair give the country a break from talking about pay, budget deficits and strikes?