Since the enactment of the Official Languages Act 2003, the Department, excluding The National Archives which forms part of the Department but is designated as a separate public body under the 2003 Act, has expended approximately €163,000 on advertising in the Irish language. The National Archives has expended approximately €52,400 on advertising in the Irish language in the same period.
These figure sums are an approximation only, as, inter alia, advertising is frequently commissioned on a bilingual basis rather than in the Irish language only, so the constituent cost of advertising in Irish must necessarily be an approximation.
In respect of the agencies under the aegis of my Department, the commissioning of advertising is a matter for the agencies themselves.