My Department spent a total of €185,692 on media advertising for 2002 of which €141,340 was spent on advertising in the national papers and €6,535 was spent on advertising in provincial papers. The remainder of €37,817 was spent on such areas as statutory advertising, the Department's entry in the Eircom phone book as well as photography and exhibition materials. In addition, a further €11,859 was spent on advertising the increase in the national minimum wage on RTE radio and €9,216 was spent on local radio.
No expenditure was incurred on videos.
The press and media relations office is a front line office communicating with the media about the public affairs of the Department. Five staff are employed in the office and the cost for 2002 amounted to a total of €187,854.78.
In addition to the foregoing, the Offices of my Department – Companies Registration Office, Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, Labour Court and Competition Authority – and the Motor Insurance Advisory Board spent a combined total of €392,769 on media advertising during 2002, of which €382,102 was spent on national papers, and €10,667 on provincial papers. In addition to the above, the Competition Authority incurred expenditure of €35,788 on both national and international advertising.
The Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs incurred expenditure of €691,627 on advertising during 2002. This figure incorporates spending on advertising in the national and provincial papers, RTE radio, local radio and television advertising.
The ODCA employs the services of Caden Communications to provide ongoing PR Consultancy and acts as communications adviser to the Director of Consumer Affairs. The Competition Authority engages the services of a communications officer. The total costs incurred for both during 2002 were €89,192.
