Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Apr 1993

Vol. 429 No. 6

Written Answers. - Market Research.

Ivan Yates

Question:

256 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he will give details of the firms which have been retained in his Departmental area and that of his Minister of State for market research, advertising, public relations and marketing purposes; the projects, if any, which are being carried out by each of these firms; the fees or retainers, if any, which are being carried out for each of these projects; the duration of the contract for each project; if all such services were secured through tendering; and if he will give details of the tendering procedure used.

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Cowen)

A study has been commissioned into the marketing of the services of the Geological Survey of Ireland which is under the aegis of my Department. The contract for the work was signed on 23 April, 1993 and work is expected to continue until 23 June, 1993. My Department will be making a contribution of not more than IR£1,600 towards the expenses and the costs of the organisation carrying out the study, the Graduate School of Business in UCD. The project was not put out to tender due to its low cost.

In the area of oil and gas exploration detailed information relating to wells which have been drilled and seismic data which has been acquired by companies through their activities in our offshore, is made available to my Department. When the confidentiality period of the data has expired it is the policy of my Department that it should be made available to the widest extent in order to encourage further exploration. In order to do this the services of Erico Petroleum Information Limited and Erico Data Services (Ireland) Limited have been acquired to market and distribute the information. Under the terms of the relevant contracts, my Department receives certain royalties from the companies' sales of the data. Five firms were asked to tender for these contracts. The initial three year period of the contracts, which began on 18 July, 1991, has been extended to run to 17 July, 1994, and when this expires my Department will decide whether to re-tender for these services.