Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Feb 2003

Vol. 561 No. 3

Written Answers. - Departmental Expenditure.

Michael Ring

Question:

111 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Finance the amount which was spent in his Department for 2002 for media purposes and advertising; the areas in which the money was spent, that is, national papers, provincial papers, RTE radio, local radios and so on; the amount of money which was spent on videos for promotional, educational or advertising purposes; the public relations staff which are employed in his Department; and the cost for 2002. [4176/03]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

The amounts set out below were spent on media advertising in 2002. The breakdown between categories has been estimated in some cases.

	€
National press	55,125
Local press	5,603
National radio	7,626
Local radio	1,907
Other*	46,927

* This category includes, e.g., Aertel pages, phone book advertisements and related production and design costs.

In addition, the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland had spending in 2002 for media advertising. While it has not been possible to categorise the ECBI spending as requested by the Deputy, the following shows the breakdown available.

	€
Television	223,515
Radio	161,756
Press	808,509
Outdoor, etc.	46,960

A total of €307,519 was also paid in this area during 2002, which it is not possible to break down in the manner requested by the Deputy. The vast bulk of this relates to promotional material for the e-tenders website for the Department and, for the ECBI, advertising agency fees and production costs and public relations services. My Department produced one video as part of the performance management and development system training during 2002. The cost of this was €219.14. In my Department, dealings with the media are primarily the responsibility of the press and information office. The office is staffed by four people. Salary payments to the incumbents in 2002 totalled €171,304.92.