Twitter slip at the Department

The Dealer has always taken pride in Ireland’s civil service which holds high the values of honesty, impartiality and integrity. So it was disappointing to see a senior civil servant in the Department of Agriculture tweet at the weekend that he was “proud, more than ever, to stand with Minister McConalogue”.

The impartiality seems to have slipped on this one. It was more reminiscent of Washington than Dublin, where civil servants are political appointments and politically aligned. And more so as representatives from farm lobby groups commented on the tweet. It didn’t inspire The Dealer’s confidence!