The Communications Clinic is an
Irish communications company on Adelaide Road in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, set up by former employees of
Carr Communications. The company's work involves public relations, interview and media coaching.
History
The company was set up by Terry Prone and
Tom Savage. Many other staff from Carr joined the business, including Hilary Kenny, Anton Savage and Gerard Kenny.
Tom Savage is also Chairman of the
RTÉ Authority, having had an extensive career in public relations and media previously.
Terry Prone is currently the chairperson of the company.
In 2010, the company aimed to have over twenty employees.
Clients
The Clinic's portfolio includes the
Gaelic Players Association
The Gaelic Players Association (), or GPA, is the officially recognised player representative body for inter county Gaelic footballers and Hurling, hurlers in Ireland. The GPA's aim is to promote and protect all aspects of player welfare and to ...
,
over fifteen "major corporate clients",
and
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
. In 2011 they worked with
presidential election candidate
Gay Mitchell and worked with
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 201 ...
for his State of Nation Address.
Controversy
In November 2011, The Communications Clinic was the subject of substantial media attention following the suicide of a former employee, Kate Fitzgerald. This came following an article printed in ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'', under the pseudonym "Grace Ringwood", printed on 9 September 2011 where she detailed her struggle with depression and work. It later emerged, in an article written by Peter Murtagh, that by this stage she had already committed suicide.
Following the revelation that Kate Fitzgerald was an employee of the Clinic, the paper redacted the online version of her article. Editor
Kevin O'Sullivan apologised to the Communications Clinic, stating "the original piece were not factual. It is clear that their publication was significantly damaging to the staff and management of her employer, the Communications Clinic". Following these events, Fitzgerald's parents said they felt "deeply hurt" by the paper's actions and a media debate ensued.
The parents of Kate Fitzgerald brought a complaint to the ombudsman regarding the Irish Times article. The ombudsman upheld the complaint.
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
Communications Clinic home page
Companies of the Republic of Ireland
Public relations companies
Training companies of Europe