Vol. 497 No. 2
334 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the cost of public relations incurred by her Department attributable to her and the Minister of State; and the salaries and other costs, including photographic costs, attributable to this. [24891/98]
No expenditure from my Department's Vote was incurred on public relations contracts since my appointment as Minister. Four civil servants in my Department are involved, inter alia, with the provision of information to the general public and to the media concerning the wide range of activities in which my Department is engaged. They also have responsibilities in relation to quality customer service and requests under the Freedom of Information legislation. In addition, I have employed a press adviser since 27 April 1998 on a full-time basis who is a public servant on secondment at a salary of £43,968.
The cost to my Department of engaging private photographers for official purposes since my appointment in June, 1997 was some £4,700 in 1997 and £7,300 in 1998 to date. A large number of such engagements involved the launch of reports and other important departmental initiatives at which the presence of a photographer was necessary for official record purposes.
