Vol. 467 No. 5
42 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the proportion of the amount recommended by the STIAC report that went into public awareness; the organisation responsible for this expenditure; and the way in which the public awareness projects were selected. [13649/96]
As I stated in reply to a similar question on 13 June 1996, a sum of £250,000 is being made available this year from the science and technology budget in my Department for a dedicated, professionally-managed awareness campaign intended to improve the perception of science, technology and innovation in the media among the public and opinion makers. This programme has been prepared by Forfás and is intended to augment the ongoing awareness activities carried out by the various agencies, both in the public and private sector.
The programme approach is to work with organisations already active in the area of science, technology and innovation awareness; to that end, Forfás liaised with a wide range of groups in recent months with the objective of building on what is already happening and adding value to what is already in place. This consultation process is almost complete and I expect that details of the programme will be announced by Forfás in the coming weeks.
