Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 30 Jan 2002

Vol. 547 No. 1

Written Answers. - Media and Advertising Costs.

Michael Ring

Ceist:

891 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the amount spent in her Department from June 1997 to December 2001 for media purposes and advertising; the categories where the money was spent; the amounts spent of a year to year basis; and the money which was spent on videos, whether for promotional, educational or advertising purposes. [2084/02]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera)

The Deputy will be aware that Brindley Advertising holds the Government contract for advertising in the print media. The total expenditure on advertising, mainly for statutory and official notifications, placed by my Department with that company for the years 1997-2001 was 2,293,875, £1,806,573, broken down as follows:

Year		£
1997	145,308	114,439
1998	362,518	285,506
1999	520,085	409,600
2000	633,777	499,140
2001	632,187	497,888

Further sums expended by my Department, mainly relating to once-off advertisements and photographic services across the range of its functions, are not grouped together for accounting purposes and it has not been possible to collate the relevant amounts in the time available for replying to this question. However, a number of the main items of expenditure identified over the period in question include:

		£
Tenders for DTT Multiplex Licence	71,364	56,204
Coimisiún don Ghaeilge sa Ghaeltacht (including public relations costs)	41,626	32,783
50 Years of Government Support for the Arts	11,241	8,853
National Park Notices	4,690	3,694
Tory Island Pier	1,295	1,020

With regard to videos for promotional, educational or advertising purposes, expenditure was incurred in 2001 as follows:

		£
Video for Museum of Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar	36,662	28,874
“Shannon” DVD (an artistic project involving schools through Scoilnet, as part of “50 Years of Government Support for the Arts”)	212,878	167,655

Details of expenditure on videos used at heritage sites and historic properties for interpretative purposes are not included.

The figures provided in this reply do not include expenditure on promotional material for heritage sites. In addition, expenditure on advertising and public relations by cultural institutions directly under the aegis of my Department, such as the National Museum, the National Library and the National Archives, is not included. However, if the Deputy wishes to specify any item in regard to which he requires further information, I will endeavour to supply such information as soon as possible.