Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Apr 2000

Vol. 518 No. 3

Written Answers. - Budget Information.

Pat Rabbitte

Ceist:

144 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Finance the number of copies produced of Budget 2000, recently published by his Department; the total cost of preparation and printing of the book; if the copy was prepared and produced within the Department or if outside consultants were used; if the printing was put out to tender; the manner in which the document is being distributed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11640/00]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

There were 50,000 copies of the Budget 2000 newspaper produced. The total cost of the publication is £7,655. The articles in Budget 2000 were produced by the press office in the Department of Finance, there were no outside consultants involved in sourcing or producing copy or content for the newspaper. The printing of the newspaper was put out to tender by my Department on 3 March 2000, and the contract was awarded to New Century Ltd.

The Budget 2000 newspaper was distributed by the press office in line with the manner in which all other information leaflets pertaining to the budget are distributed annually. The Department of Finance produces an information leaflet setting out the changes made in that year's budget. The leaflet is then sent to the principals of the 800 second level schools in Ireland for distribution to their students, the distribution list for this is supplied by the Department of Education and Science.

The cost of publishing the Budget 2000 newspaper compares very favourably with similar publications over the past few years. As you will note from the following table, the costs this year were considerably less than previous years, providing double the quantity for half the price.

Due to the additional numbers, the press office was able to disseminate the information to a wider circle. In addition to the second level schools, copies were also sent to all Departments, departmental press offices, Fianna Fáil press office and headquarters and the Progressive Democrat press office and headquarters. Copies were also sent to all national and local media organisations. There are copies available on request from the Department of Finance.

I and my Department are very happy with the very positive response to the Budget 2000 newspaper and I consider the publication to be the most effective budget information document to have been produced over the past number of years, both in terms of the presentation of the volume of financial data and also in terms of production costs efficiency.

Deputy Quinn

Year	Publication	Cost	No. ofCopies	Distribution
1997	Information Leaflet Budget 1997	£13,535	24,000	800 secondary schools
	EMU Leaflet	£14,113

Deputy McCreevy

Year	Publication	Cost	No. ofCopies	Distribution
1998	Information Leaflet Budget 1998	£10,799	24,000	800 secondary schools
1999	No Publication
2000	Budget 2000	£7,655	50,000	800 secondary schools, Government Departments, Government press offices, national and local media