Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Feb 2003

Vol. 561 No. 3

Written Answers. - Departmental Expenditure.

Michael Ring

Question:

89 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Defence 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. [4174/03]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

An amount of €1,438,722 was expended by my Department, including the Defence Forces, in 2002 on advertising, as follows:–

	Department	DefenceForces
	€	€
National press	62,527	314,851
Local press	38,746	46,136
National radio		132,753
Local radio		44,831
Television		209,554
Other (including production costs)	4,229	585,095

There was no expenditure in respect of videos.

There is one civil servant serving, as press officer, in the press office of my Department. There are ten members of the Permanent Defence Force serving in the Defence Forces public relations section, which includes the Defence Forces press office, An Cosantoir and Connect magazines, and the public relations office. Salary costs amounted to €415,778 in 2002. In addition, costs in relation to external public relations consultancies amounted to €33,617 in 2002.