Vol. 429 No. 7
102 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht if he will recommend that advertising budgets for all Government Departments and Government Agencies should be spent equitably between RTE and local independent ratio stations.
104 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the proportion of radio advertising expenditure by Government Departments that was paid to RTE Radio compared to independent local radio stations for the years, 1990, 1991 and 1992 and the amount involved.
105 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht if he intends to monitor RTE Radio advertising charges after the cap is removed, or otherwise make any recommendations on their scale of advertising fees.
Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna 102, 104 agus 105 le chéile.
The House will appreciate that I have no function with regard to how other Government Departments and Agencies spend their advertising budgets. I would expect, as with my own Department, where an advertising campaign is considered necessary, that Departments endeavour to get the best value for the money at their disposal and the media mix selected is tailored to the particular campaign. My Department has not made use of any radio advertising in the years mentioned in the relevant question.
I have no function with regard to charges made by RTE for advertising time on any of their services. The Broadcasting Authority (Amendment) Bill, 1993, which I presented to the Houses on 21 April 1993 proposes that the total daily times and the maximum time in any one hour for broadcast advertisements fixed by the RTE Authority will be subject to my approval.
