Covid-19 Pandemic

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Questions (8)

Mattie McGrath

Question:

8. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Taoiseach the amount of funding spent by his Department on the Covid-19 communications strategy since the beginning of the pandemic. [4774/21]

View answer

Written answers

The Taoiseach

The 2020/21 Covid19 spend on public information campaigns is listed in the tables below.

Since March, my Department has co-ordinated communications for the whole-of-government response to the pandemic. This necessitated expenditure on a broad range of targeted public messaging across 38 different information campaigns.

The overall communications strategy for Covid-19 is based on a coordinated response that ensures maximum clarity for citizens, businesses and our wider community. This aligns with both World Health Organization (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) advice, both of which emphasise the importance of ensuring the general public is aware of the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak, and further that a high degree of population understanding, community engagement and acceptance of the measures put in place are key in preventing further spread.

It is also recommended that communication strategies should target different audiences and provide the rationale behind the measures, also outlining the necessity to put a support system in place to provide essential services and supplies (e.g. food and medication), and to monitor vulnerable individuals.

Campaigns have included Radio, newspaper and social elements.

Last Spring a number of campaigns were run as restrictions were imposed in order to explain the measures and to reinforce public health messages. Other Campaigns focussed on targeted sectors including the Business Sector, the postponement of the Leaving Certificate, the Return to Work Campaigns and Community Wellbeing.

In May the Government’s Roadmap to Reopen Society and Business was published and a communications campaign was run to explain the different phases of the Roadmap.

During Summer 2020 the Jobs Stimulus was announced by the Government and a Campaign was run which was focussed on restoring confidence and investment in the recovery.

In Autumn Campaigns aimed at Community Wellbeing and Keeping Well and reinforcing public health messaging were run.

The AntiViral Campaign, launched in December, aims to engage with those aged 18-24, recognising that they have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Also in December, there were campaigns to inform citizens of the advice for having a safe Christmas with family and friends, and guidance on shopping safely, to reinforce public health messaging.

It is essential that citizens, business owners and communities are informed of the decisions being made by Government, and campaigns are developed and implemented to make the public aware of these decisions.

Campaigns have achieved impressive audience reach across all media platforms. The #AntiViral Campaign had over 5.7 million impressions by mid-December – we had communicated with over 300,000 young people approximately 5 times across the platforms building awareness of the Campaign. The AntiViral hashtag had over 1.1 million views and the Campaign’s positive sentiment was measured at over 60%.

Data from 25 of the Campaigns advertised in National press show an average reach of 49%, with 17 of these reaching over 50%. The average readership for the 25 campaigns was 1.9 million (with 16 of the 25 campaigns having a readership of over 2 million). Readership figures for regional newspapers is over 1.5 million for each campaign.

Radio advertising had an average audience reach of 79%, with 19 of the campaigns advertised on radio reaching over 80%.

Digital display advertising was used in 13 campaigns, with a combined audience reach of over 33 million. This is an average of 2.6 million impressions, with six of the campaigns reaching over 3 million citizens.

Of 19 campaigns analysed that used Social media advertising, an average of 4.9 million impressions were achieved, with a high of 16.1 million impressions for the Publication of the Roadmap campaign.

Advertising Costs 2020

Campaign	Total
1. Emergency Business Supports	€492,347
2. Use of Outdoor/Public Spaces	€418,016
3. 14 Day Restrictions	€477,043
4. Community Call	€1,774,624
5. Business Supports - SMEs	€1,018,967
6. Wellbeing	€835,846
7. Reopening Roadmap	€851,613
8. Business Reopening - Return to Work Safely Protocol	€868,181
9. Leaving Certificate	€58,436
10. Phase 1 Reopening	€1,176,759
11. Business Reopening – Return To Work 2	€600,942
12. Phase 2 Reopening	€892,545
13. Phase 3 Reopening	€1,205,814
14. Personal Responsibility	€384,388
15. Travel	€323,353
16. Phase 4 Reopening - July Delay	€735,735
17. July Jobs Stimulus	€652,375
18. Travel Green List	€179,252
19. Phase 4 Reopening - August Delay	€171,364
20. 3 Counties Restrictions (National and Regional)	€119,423
21. Additional National Measures (August)	€449,607
22. Dublin/Limerick High incidence awareness	€366,059
23. Living with COVID ( Framework and Household booklet)	€902,604
24. Dublin Level 3 (Sept)	€12,318
25. Donegal Level 3 (Sept)	€177,824
26. Reinforcing Public Health Messaging Nationwide	€126,348
27. Nationwide Level 3 (Oct)	€239,599
28. 3 Counties L4 / National L3 update	€44,860
29. Nationwide Level 5 (Oct)	€211,736
30. Keep Well - Community Wellbeing	€741,559
31. #SafeChristmas Phase 1 (Level 3)	€40,160
32. #Antiviral Campaign	€87,120
n/a Third Party Copy/Scriptwriting/Strategy	€50,820
33. #SafeChristmas Live action TV ad	€157,058
34. #SafeChristmas Animated TV ad	€36,947
TOTALS 2020	€16,881,642

Advertising Costs 2021

Campaign:	Total
33. #SafeChristmas Live action TV ad	€6,292
35. #SafeChristmas Phase 2 - (ease of restrictions)	€22,494
36. #SafeChristmas Phase 3 - Gathering/Dinner	*
37. Christmas 2020 – Transition to Level 5	*
38. Dec/Jan return to Level 5	*
39. January 2021 Additional Level 5 measures	*
TOTAL 2021 Costs	€28,786
TOTAL 2020/2021 COSTS	€16,910,428

*Invoices awaited from suppliers