Departmental Expenditure.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2006

Thursday, 6 July 2006

Questions (347)

Michael Ring

Question:

348 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the amount which was spent in his Department for the years 2005 and from January 2006 to date for media purposes or advertising; where the money was spent, that is, national papers, provincial papers, RTÉ radio, local radios and so on; the amounts spent on a yearly basis for years of the previous three years; if money was spent on videos, for promotional, educational or advertising purposes. [27962/06]

Written answers

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism (Mr. O’Donoghue)

The total cost for advertising since the establishment of my Department in June 2002, including advertising by the Cultural Institutions, was as follows.

	€
June-December 2002	186,797
2003	393,352
2004	392,178
2005	200,824
2006 to date	31,449

In addition my Department spent €67,760 earlier this year on an Educational Pack for the Beckett Centenary Festival of a box set of DVDs which was distributed to post-primary schools throughout the country.

My Department's statistics on advertising expenditure are not retained on a basis that would allow me to provide the breakdown requested by the Deputy. However a significant element of the expenditure was incurred in relation to advertising and promotion by the National Museum of Ireland and National Library of Ireland which formed part of my Department until they were established as separate legal entities in May 2005.