Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 17 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 4

Written Answers. - Departmental Publications.

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

63 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Finance if, in regard to the promotional newsletter published by the Department on budget 2001, he will state the total number printed; the total cost of printing; if tenders were sought for the printing; the total number distributed; the manner of distribution; the cost of distribution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14229/01]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

There were 20,000 copies of the Budget 2001 Update printed. The total cost of printing the publication is £6,412.50. This works out at a cost of 32p each. The articles in budget 2001 were produced by the press office in the Department of Finance and also included articles from other Ministers and Departments.

There were no outside consultants involved in sourcing or producing copy or content for the update. The printing of the update was put out to tender by my Department last December, and the contract was awarded to New Century Limited.

The Budget 2001 Update was distributed by the press office in line with the manner in which all other information leaflets pertaining to the budget are distributed. The update was sent to the principals of the 751 second level schools in Ireland for circulation to their students, the distribution list for this is supplied by the Department of Education and Science. The postage costs of this are £863 approx.

In addition 1,500 copies were also sent to all Departments and departmental press offices. Some 2,000 copies were sent to the Fianna Fáil press office. Some 1,000 copies were sent to the Progressive Democrats press office. Approximately 500 copies were also sent to all national and local media organisations, the copies for the local media were distributed through the Government Information Services, GIS.

Some 600 copies were circulated to all officers of my Department. Copies are also available on request from the Department of Finance.

The cost of publishing the Budget 2001 Update compares very favourably with similar publications over the past few years. The costs this year were considerably less than previous years. I am very happy with the very positive response to the Budget 2001 Update.

I consider the publication to be an effective budget information document both in terms of the presentation of the volume of financial data and also in terms of production costs efficiency.

As you will note from the following table, the costs this year were considerably less than previous years.

Ruairí Quinn T.D.

Year	Publication	Cost £	No of copies	Distribution
1997	Information Leaflet 1997 Budget	3,535	24,000	Secondary Schools
	EMU Leaflet	14,113	24,000	Secondary Schools

Charlie McCreevy

Year	Publication	Cost £	No of copies	Distribution
1998	Information Leaflet Budget 1998	10,799	24,000	Secondary Schools
2000	Budget 2000	7,655	50,000	Secondary Schools, DepartmentsGovernment Press Offices, National and Local Media, Party Press Offices, Internal circulation
2001	Budget 2001	6,413	20,000	Secondary Schools DepartmentsGovernment Press Offices, National and Local Media, Party Press Offices, Internal Circulation

Questions Nos. 64 and 65 answered with Question No. 8.