Ivan Yates says client confidentiality is his ‘golden rule’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Ivan Yates has said he did “nothing wrong” by not declaring to his audience that he had provided media coaching to Jim Gavin, as he said client confidentiality was his “golden rule”.

Mr Yates, a former Fine Gael minister and ex-broadcaster, provided around four hours of media training to the Fianna Fáil candidate during the presidential election.

Fianna Fáil said this took place from September 23rd to 29th and focused on preparing for interviews on two programmes, and also revealed he had coached ministers in the past.

Newstalk said a review is underway after Mr Yates presented a programme on its airwaves on three dates during the presidential election campaign and did not inform it of “any conflict of interest”.

Path to Power podcaster Matt Cooper was critical of Mr Yates, his co-host, for not declaring the coaching while commenting on the election, and the show is now moving ahead with guest contributors instead.

Mr Gavin ultimately withdrew from contention following revelations about thousands of euros he owed to a former tenant.

On Monday, Mr Yates defended his decision not to declare the coaching and said: “I had a golden rule and that was a client confidentiality.”

Asked if he had breached the trust of his audience, Mr Yates said he had not.

He added: “I tell you what I’m really good at, and with the podcast, I am the best back-channeler in the business because politicians speak to me because I’m not a journalist.

“They can trust me because I understand and I empathise with politicians, I even like politicians.

“And so therefore I was getting material that ‘Ivan, this is your opinion, you didn’t hear from me’, and that was the X Factor, the gossipy nature of it.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh, he said his “hundreds of” clients “have to rely on the fact that I won’t go blabbing about my previous coaching”.

He said his coaching involved a “simulation and a rehearsal” of a broadcast interview and added: “My job has nothing to do with policy, and it’s actually being kind of pushed across as the week has gone on, that I’m a spin doctor for Fianna Fáil.

“I have no involvement in their strategy, no involvement in their policy manifesto.”

Mr Yates criticised the media for “double standards” and said the industry was “riddled with conflicts of interest”.

“All week the media has tried to dance on my grave.”

He said the level of “nixers” in the media would make “Del Boy Trotter look like an altar boy”.

“The double standards that people all over the place have, separate commitments, corporate freebies, different relationships, and none of that is revealed.”

Mr Yates said his removal from the Path to Power podcast came in the context that the team was “very upset” that he had said he was planning to leave the programme anyway.

Pressed on whether Mr Cooper or anyone else on the podcast asked him if he had worked on any of the campaigns, Mr Yates said: “Not that I recall.”

He added: “I have a couple of morals of my own, because everyone’s lecturing me about my morals. One, I don’t tell lies. And secondly, everything I do, I ask the simple question, is this legal?”

Asked if he ever interviewed someone he had trained, Mr Yates said: “I’m sure I have.”

On filling in for the Pat Kenny radio show on Newstalk, he said his pay on the programme was “derisory” but he accepts it because he likes the team and has “a bit of craic”.

He said he did not tell the station he had coached Mr Gavin, and he did not recall being asked.

He said he relied on his “personal integrity” to separate his opinions and his coaching work.

Asked about the Coimisiún na Meán code around fairness and impartiality, Mr Yates said the rules applied to people under contract and said he had only covered eight or nine programmes.

“I left the media. I’m not a journalist, I was never a journalist.”

He added: “So therefore what I was relying on is my personal integrity to be fair-minded.”

Mr Yates said he did not believe he was compromised and questioned whether there was any evidence his external relationships had with “interfered with the integrity” of his contributions.

Mr Yates also said his comment that Fine Gael should “smear the bejaysus” out of independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly was made “fast and loose” and that it was not part of any strategy for the party or Fianna Fáil.

However, he acknowledged it had an impact on Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphrey’s campaign: “Actually the only thing I’m sorry for in the last three or four weeks, or in the whole period, was that impact.”

Mr Yates said he was “treated like a criminal” for doing his job as a media trainer, claiming he got more publicity than DJ Carey – a famous hurling star convicted of fraud.

Asked if he believed his reputation would recover, he said: “I’m pretty robust and resilient. I’m not cocky about it, but I’m saying absolutely, adamantly, I broke no rules, and in my mind, I’ve done nothing wrong, and any coaching job I have has not compromised my own opinions.”

Mr Yates said he will appear before the Oireachtas Committee on November 19th.