Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
124. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his Department's expenditure on photography and other promotional services, including the creation of social media content in 2017 and to date in 2018. [34232/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn regard to Photography 2017 - to date, my Department only avails of the services of external photographic agencies where it is warranted, in particular for major events and State occasions. This is a service which my Department provides so that the media can easily and freely avail of photography where their own staff photographers cannot be fully accommodated. Events where these services have been used included the visits of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in May 2017 and June of 2018 and those by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in July 2017 and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in November 2017. Through the Office of Government Procurement an updated Multi-Supplier Framework Agreement for the provision of Professional Photography and Videography is now in operation. My Department procures the services of external photographic agencies via this Framework where necessary.
In addition, my Department continues to avail of in-house resources for photography whenever possible.
The cost of photography to my Department for events which took place in 2017 and 2018 to date are listed in the following Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1 - 2017
|
2017 |
Expenditure |
|
Headquarters Total 2017 |
€40,119.29 |
|
Mission Total 2017 |
€14,216.21 |
|
Department Total 2017 |
€54,335.50 |
Table 2 - 2018 to date
|
2018 |
Expenditure |
|
Headquarters 2018 to date |
€14,493.00 |
|
Mission 2018 to date |
€3,582.16 |
|
Department 2018 to date |
€18,075.16 |
Promotional Services in 2017 and 2018 to date:
Public notices and commercial advertising is undertaken by the Department in relation to important information with a significant public interest dimension which requires communication to national, regional or local audiences. Since January 2017 there have been two such campaigns: one for the launch of the online passport renewal service and one for the Government Brexit Update email service.
Advertising in relation to online passport renewals took place in order to ensure a good uptake by citizens of this innovative service. It took the form of a multi-format outdoor transport campaign combined with digital units in Dublin and Belfast Airports to promote the online passport service. The outdoor transport campaign ran over two two-week cycles in May and June 2017. The digital units in Dublin and Belfast Airports ran from May to August 2017.
In addition to the outdoor campaign, a further online and social media campaign was also run with ads being placed around digital articles and social media activity on travel-related themes. This part of the campaign ran from April until August of last year. The advertising was successful in helping to raise public awareness of this award-winning new service and has seen over 220,000 people use this service to date.
The Government Brexit Update email service forms part of my Department’s overall strategy to keep the Irish public fully informed and up-to date on the direct implications and challenges of Brexit. Previously operated by the Department of An Taoiseach, it was re-launched in February 2018 along with a new dedicated Brexit website – www.dfa.ie/Brexit.
The Update is issuing on a regular basis via a commercial provider (MailChimp) and provides information on latest developments in the ongoing Brexit negotiations, on the latest available research publications and on engagement at Government level. It also highlights the range of business supports that are available through the various Government Enterprise agencies.
Details of expenditure on each of the above campaigns is set out in Table 3.
|
Project |
Amount |
Supplier |
|
Public Information Campaign to raise awareness of the Online Passport Service (2017) |
€210,324.15 |
MEC |
|
Government Brexit Update (February – July 2018) |
€942.35 |
Twitter and MailChimp |
Creation of Social Media content in 2017 and 2018 to date:
My Department has a contract in place with a provider of graphic design services for the design and production of graphics for publications and other printed materials where necessary. While it is seldom the case that materials are designed solely for use on social media platforms, supplementary design work is sometimes required to adapt graphics and designs for digital publication and use on social media channels. The amount spent on designing or adapting materials for use on social media platforms in 2017 and 2018 to date is set out in Table 4.
Table 4 – Creation of Social Media Content
|
Year |
Amount Spent |
|
2017 |
€7,600.52 |
|
2018 to date |
€2,101.85 |
|
Total |
€9,702.37 |
