Written Answers Nos. 263-273
263. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department is in receipt of a submission from SEAI in relation to the defective concrete blocks scheme; if he is aware of the delays being caused by SEAI not expanding its schemes as promised; and if he will treat their submission as a urgent priority. [53034/23]
View answer264. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount his Department spent in 2021, 2022 and up to 27 November 2023 on advertisements with a website (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53051/23]
View answer265. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount his Department spent in 2021, 2022 and up to 27 November 2023 on advertisements with two websites (details supplied) respectively, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53071/23]
View answer266. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount his Department spent in 2021, 2022 and up to 27 November 2023 on advertisements with a website (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53088/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 264 to 266, inclusive, together.
My Department uses advertising to promote a range of services, supports and initiatives that affect people and communities across a range of policy areas.
As the media landscape has evolved over the past number of years, advertising expenditure has grown to address the diverse needs of different audiences, and ensure that we are meeting our Irish language advertising requirements under the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021. Recent investment was also increased to support consumers to manage their energy use and costs via the national Reduce Your Use campaign.
My Department works with a media buying agency to determine the best mix of media channels to reach the appropriate target audiences for the specific campaign objectives.
The table below sets out my Department’s advertising expenditure on specific platforms over the period requested by the Deputy. These figures are excluding VAT.
|
- |
X (formerly Twitter) |
Facebook / Instagram |
|
|
2023* |
€52,474.00 |
€137,399.00 |
€70,470.00 |
|
2022 |
€43,246.44 |
€74,984.57 |
€36,378.75 |
|
2021** |
€2,250.59 |
€1,300.00 |
€267.58 |
*2023 figures cover campaign activity up to 27 November – some activity may not have been reconciled yet, so this figure is subject to change in the future
**2021 figures do not include spend of €20,000 – we are waiting for the relevant media buying agency to confirm which platforms this was spent on
267. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of an action (details supplied) under the 2023 Climate Action Plan; and the timeline for implementation. [53170/23]
View answerThis question relates to Climate Action Plan 2023, action number PD/23/1. An update on delivery of this action has been published as part of the Department of the Taoiseach Q2 2023 Climate Action Plan quarterly progress report, available at gov.ie - Climate Action Plan Progress Reports (www.gov.ie)
268. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence what deployment of troops he envisages will be able to take place within the framework of international law and within the parameters of the UN Charter without a Security Council resolution if the ‘Triple Lock’ is removed. [53026/23]
View answerThe so-called "triple lock" mechanism sets out the requirements for the deployment of Defence Forces' personnel for peacekeeping operations overseas. These requirements are provided for in legislation, in particular the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1960 and the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006, as amended.
The Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 also provides for a series of other circumstances in which members of the Permanent Defence Forces may be deployed overseas “with the prior approval of and on the authority of the Government”.
Having reflected on the very well-informed discussion on the issue of UN peacekeeping and the “Triple Lock” at the Consultative Forum on International Security, at which there was no single consensus over how to proceed, I have concluded that we need a new process to replace the current system which effectively allows Security Council members to bind Ireland’s hands in its international engagement.
In my statement to the Dáil on 22 November, I was not prescriptive about what about what changes would be made to the existing legislation. As I indicated in the debate, I have instructed officials in the Department of Defence to prepare legislative proposals without delay that would govern the future overseas deployments of our Defence Forces.
Work on the preparation of those legislative proposals has commenced, with a view to proposals being brought to Government in due course. Any proposals agreed by Government will then have to be presented to, debated and approved by the Dáil and Seanad, thus providing the Oireachtas with ample opportunity to scrutinise any such proposals.
It is important that I emphasise that any legislative proposals will remain fully consistent with the principles of the UN Charter and international law.
Any change to the Triple Lock will continue to require Government and Dáil approval for the despatch of Defence Forces’ personnel to take part in peacekeeping and similar missions and will do nothing to change Ireland’s traditional position of military neutrality, which is characterised by Ireland's non-participation in any military alliance.
269. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the titles of the White Papers published by his Department from 2008 to date; if he will provide online links to these papers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52975/23]
View answerThe current White Paper on Defence, which was approved by the Government in July 2015, provides the strategic and comprehensive defence policy framework for the period up to 2025. The previous White Paper on Defence, which was published in 2000, was the first such White Paper on defence in the history of this State.
In 2013, given the passage of time and significant changes in the security environment which had seen the emergence of new and complex transnational threats, the Government initiated the preparation of a new White Paper through the publication of a first ever Green Paper on Defence. This set out a range of policy questions and sought submissions on Ireland’s future defence policy requirements. In addition to consideration of 122 written submissions received in response to the Green Paper, a process of widespread consultation was undertaken in the development of the current White Paper.
The White Paper on Defence published in 2015 set out the Government intention to put in place a new fixed cycle of defence reviews. Such reviews are common practice internationally and give reassurance that policy remains up to date and relevant to changing future circumstances.
The White Paper set out that every three years there will be a White Paper update that would consider progress made up to that time and consider any revisions required with each alternative three-year review in the cycle being more comprehensive in nature and to be styled a Strategic Defence Review.
The first of these reviews, the White Paper Update was published in 2019. The second of these reviews, the Strategic Defence Review stage, was due to commence in 2021. With the establishment of the independent Commission on the Defence Forces by Government in December 2020, a decision was taken to pause commencing the Strategic Defence Review until the Commission on the Defence Forces had completed their report and Government had been given time to consider the report.
Following detailed consideration of the Commission Report the Minister for Defence brought to Government a High Level Action Plan and a Memo for Government which were approved on July 12th last year. Part of the High Level Action Plan was the progression of a number of early actions one of these being the commencement of the Strategic Defence Review.
The first stage of this review has commenced with the preparation of a revised security environment assessment (SEA) which is currently being conducted by an interdepartmental working group and will address the significant security environment changes since the invasion of Ukraine. A fresh consideration of the implications of this assessment for overall policy requirements, associated tasks, capability development and resourcing will then be completed. The security environment assessment should be completed by the end of this year and will inform the Strategic Defence Review.
The information requested by the Deputy in relation to White Papers published by my Department from 2008 to date, including links to same are set out in the table below.
|
Year |
Name |
Link to Paper |
|
2013 |
Green Paper on Defence 2013 |
www.gov.ie/en/publication/560177-green-paper-on-defence-2013/ |
|
2015 |
White Paper on Defence 2015 |
www.gov.ie/en/publication/1b0dc6-white-paper-on-defence/ |
|
2019 |
White Paper on Defence Update 2019 |
www.gov.ie/en/publication/a519cf-white-paper-on-defence-update-2019/ |
270. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the total number of consultancy reports commissioned or funded by his Department that have been categorised or designated as not for external publication from 2011 to date; the total costs incurred on commissioning or funding these reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52994/23]
View answerThe detailed information sought by the Deputy is not readily available, but my Department is retrieving and collating the information requested and I will arrange to have it forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.
|
€ |
Number of Reports |
Cost |
|
2021 |
1 |
€3,198 |
|
2022 |
1 |
€12,453.75 |
|
2023 |
1 |
€32,314.56 |
|
Total |
3 |
€47,966.31 |
271. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the amount his Department spent in 2021, 2022 and up to 27 November 2023 on advertisements with a website (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53048/23]
View answer272. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the amount his Department spent in 2021, 2022 and up to 27 November 2023 on advertisements with two websites (details supplied) respectively, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53068/23]
View answer273. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the amount his Department spent in 2021, 2022 and up to 27 November 2023 on advertisements with a website (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53085/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 271 to 273, inclusive, together.
The following table sets out the amounts spent by my Department in 2021, 2022 and up to 28 November 2023 on advertisements with the specified companies.
|
X (formerly Twitter) |
|
|
|
|
|
2021 |
€9,816.56 |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
|
2022 |
€26,733.20 |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
|
2023 to date |
€9,091.95 |
Nil |
Nil |
€5,000.00 |
