Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 December 2019
98. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Taoiseach the amount spent by his Department and each agency under the aegis of his Department on the National Ploughing Championships in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019, by online advertising, offline advertising, promotional material, wages, photography, stand rental and other costs. [49687/19]
View answerArising from the experience of previous years, a new approach was taken to the Government’s presence at NPC 2019. The broad objectives of this approach were to maximise the opportunity for citizen engagement (visitors to NPC – approx. 300k) to make the overall approach more cost effective, and to have a targeted presence to help citizens get ready for Brexit.
This approach was co-ordinated centrally from the Department of the Taoiseach, which resulted in a consolidated approach to such activities as staffing, communications and the provision of tickets and sites at NPC. As a result of this approach, a number of items were paid for centrally from this Department, for example, cross-site cleaning, maintenance, waste management, utilities, signage and staff facilities. This approach resulted in a number of efficiencies being realised, for example, reduced cost of entry for Government staff and the ‘early bird’ rate being available to all Government attendees for their plot at NPC. As with all such activities, this area will be reviewed ahead of the 2020 NPC to apply any learnings. The Department also managed the Government of Ireland marquee, which hosted a number of citizen focused events on topics such as Brexit readiness and the Climate Action Plan. Due to the change in overall approach, figures from previous years are not comparable.
The following is a table with the figures requested.
|
Item |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|
Online Advertising |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Offline Advertising |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Promotional Material |
0.00 |
0.00 |
€6,289.79 |
0.00 |
|
Photography |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Stand Rental (including Marquee and site costs) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
€9,979.40 |
Gov Marquee : €17,869.09 Government of Ireland communal component: €22,841.54 |
|
Staff expenses |
576.38 |
203.91 |
4899.45 |
€11,843.25 |
|
Other Costs (e.g. Utility, Security, Health and Safety, Design) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
€ 68,512.64 |
Government of Ireland Marquee: €46,893.03 Government of Ireland communal component: €205,860.32 |
