1 November 2025
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn has accused government of directing almost half a million euros of taxpayer’s money to advertising companies as part of a “desperate attempt to appear pro-active in addressing the recruitment crisis affecting the construction sector.”
File photo of Ken O’Flynn
The Cork North-Central TD was responding to confirmation from Further Education Minister James Lawless that €450,000 was spent this year and last as part of the come-home campaigns, which ran this month and last October.
He added, “When all else fails, and clearly everything the government has done on housing has failed, throw more money at it. That seems to be the attitude. Anything to distract from the fact that Government has virtually no hope of reaching its own 2030 housing targets.”
“It is crazy that this ad campaign was signed off when you have the likes of the online platform Back 4 Good pointing out while it has years of experience, databases, and direct diaspora engagement, the Government chose not to involve it, despite being the most established, and trusted platform of choice for the global Irish community seeking to return home.”
“What this says to me is that not even five minutes research was put into asking could this spend of hundreds of thousands be justified. No. Instead a decision was made to pour that money into the coffers of advertising firms. That is indefensible in my eyes.”
“This is why I have submitted a fresh series of parliamentary questions requests full disclosure of the campaign outcomes, including:
• Breakdown of total spend by advertising medium (digital, print, broadcasting) and by jurisdiction (UK, EU, non-EU).
• Number of unique respondents who engaged via campaign tracking codes and converted into verified registrations.
• Number of verified returnees who subsequently accepted registered employment in Irish construction firms within six months, and the retention rate at 12 months.
• Cost per verified hire and cost per retained worker, and comparison with standard domestic recruitment costs.
• Any subsequent public contracts awarded to the media agency or production firm engaged in the campaign, and whether competitive tendering procedures were followed.
Deputy O’Flynn concluded:
“If the campaign didn’t deliver hands on site, it must be ended, and the funds redirected to apprenticeships, skills investment and planning reform. The advertising gravy train must be decommissioned.”
“As part of our efforts to combat this kind of waste, Independent Ireland demands:
Outcome-based reporting for all recruitment marketing campaigns paid for by taxpayers.
Renewal of such campaigns only if they meet a cost-per-hire threshold equal to or better than domestic benchmarks.
Public release of all raw campaign data (with redactions only where required by GDPR), not just summary figures.