Vol. 567 No. 6
168 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on whether his Department's share of the more than ?10 million spent by Departments in 2002 on public relations, marketing and advertising represents best value for money; and the plans to reduce spending in this area. [14671/03]
The total expenditure incurred by my Department on advertising for the year 2002 was €1,054,034. Advertising expenditure by category was as follows: print media €1,007,263, radio advertising €38,271, other advertising €8,500. Expenditure on public relations consultancy was €38,443.65 in 2002. There is no public relations company employed by my Department at present. This represented value for money for my Department. Every effort will be made to keep expenditure to a minimum in the future and in this regard, the potential of electronic tendering-procurement will be developed.
