Sunday Business Post April 19, 2009
Tough times are forcing many firms to take drastic action, writes Michael Cullen

Public relations activity in Ireland is experiencing some misfortune, with 70 per cent of PR firms expecting fee income to fall and at least 66 per cent foreseeing a fall in profits this year.

Only 12.1 per cent of PR firms are confident of income rising, according to a recent survey conducted by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII).

Jim Walsh of Walsh Public Relations said the PR market was in a ‘‘mixed situation’’, but predicted that, on balance, revenues would be down by about 15 per cent this year. In his case, some clients have reduced their budgets but, on the other hand, at least one has increased PR spend and the agency has won four new clients since January.

‘‘Our level of business would make it difficult to service with fewer than the ten staff we have now,” Walsh said.

‘‘We haven’t let anyone go, and in fact we replaced two young executives who left for Australia in February. Their decision to emigrate was made last year and was not a response to the economic downturn.”

From Walsh’s experience in recruiting new staff, he thinks that about half of PR firms have let staff go over the past six months. The uncertainty makes business planning difficult. The PRII report said pay cuts of up to ten per cent have been implemented by a third of firms, with almost all others freezing wages.

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