Liz McManus
Ceist:7 Deputy Liz McManus asked the Minister for Defence if he plans a media campaign to promote the handbook Preparing for Major Emergencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20162/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 22 May 2008
Ceisteanna (16, 17, 18)
Kathleen Lynch
Ceist:13 Deputy Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Defence the demand for the handbook Preparing for Major Emergencies in the Polish, Russian and Chinese languages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20161/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraLiz McManus
Ceist:28 Deputy Liz McManus asked the Minister for Defence the provision he has made for the ongoing review and updating of the handbook Preparing for Major Emergencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20163/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (8 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 13 and 28 together.
On Monday 14 April 2008, the public information and awareness campaign on emergency planning was launched at the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre. The main focus of the campaign was the publication and country-wide distribution of a handbook entitled Preparing for Major Emergencies. To coincide with the launch of the campaign, a three-week advertising campaign was undertaken to let people know about the handbook and to encourage everyone to read it. Advertisements were placed in national and provincial newspapers, on radio and on advertisement billboards around the country.
It is planned to review the impact of the campaign later in the year. Obviously it will be important to ensure that the information is relevant and up to date. However, the handbook is specifically designed to contain generic information which will not change. More detailed information is available on the website www.emergencyplanning.ie.
It is important that the information contained in the handbook is equally available to the new Irish communities. For this reason the handbook was made available on the website in Polish, Russian and Chinese. During the launch period of the campaign there were more than 3,000 hits on the website but it is not possible to say how many were from those communities.
As chairman of the Government task force on emergency planning, I am conscious of the need to maintain public awareness of the excellent work that is being undertaken in this area by Government Departments and public authorities and I will continue to encourage further initiatives.
I recently attended a session of the Oireachtas education programme initiated by the Ceann Comhairle. With regard to the booklet Preparing for Major Emergencies, it may be possible for those running the programme in the individual schools to incorporate the booklet as part of the programme. I am not sure how many booklets were printed so perhaps the Minister will tell me. In most instances when we talk about schools we are talking about the next generation, but the next generation is only three or four years away. We are passing on vital information to these students. It has taken some time to bring the programme to its present stage. It is important to incorporate the emergency planning booklet into the programme. If this were done it would also mean that when a book was brought home by an individual student there would be discussion of it within the family, creating further interest in the issue which will last longer than the publications and advertisements associated with the initial launch.
Local radio is now a major contributor to rural and community life. Is the Minister satisfied that the launch campaign was sufficient in this regard? News items and so on are particularly noticeable. How many booklets were printed in Russian, Polish and Chinese? Was there much demand for them? The Minister said he could not differentiate between language speakers in calculating the number of hits on the website, but was there much demand for booklets in each of these languages?
There is a slight misunderstanding here. No booklets were printed in Russian, Polish or Chinese. The information was made available in these languages on the website.
I am sorry, I thought they were. That was my mistake.
The Deputy asked about local radio. We deliberately chose to advertise in the print media, both local and national newspapers, on local and national radio and on billboards throughout the country. Television advertising is extremely expensive, and we are trying to keep costs down. The total cost of the campaign was slightly more than €2 million, of which about 25% went on advertising. I am fairly confident the campaign was successful. We will do a limited amount of research later in the year to find out how successful the campaign actually was, but it certainly brought the issue to the public's attention.
One thing I deplored was the cynical attitude of certain columnists to the whole exercise. The reason we conducted the campaign was that most people did not know we had an emergency plan in place and the handful of people who knew there was an emergency plan did not know what it involved. We also heard many comments about how simple the information in the booklet was. We did research with the public before the booklet was produced and we found this was exactly what they wanted. They wanted reassurance that there was a plan in place rather than details on the specific aspects of any plan. Much more detailed information is available on the website and there are a number of contact telephone numbers that people can call to get more information. I deplore the cynical attitude I mentioned. The booklet was produced based on similar projects in such places as the UK and Australia. We did no more and no less than that — we spent a lot less than had been spent in other countries. A total of €2 million to print and distribute the booklet and advertise in the newspapers and on national radio was quite a small sum in the overall scheme of things.
I did not understand the Deputy's first question.
The Ceann Comhairle has initiated an Oireachtas education programme under which members of the Oireachtas staff visit transition year students in schools and introduce a package explaining the operation of the Houses. The official begins by staying with the class for 30 minutes, after which Members attend for an interactive questions and answers session. Could the booklet be included in this package? I do not know whether booklets are available, but it could create interest from an educational perspective. The children could interact with their parents concerning the booklet after going home.
I apologise to the Deputy for misunderstanding, but I accept his point. It is a useful suggestion that I will discuss with the Ceann Comhairle.
I thank the Minister.
Question No. 8 answered with Question No. 6.