Departmental Advertising Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 December 2018

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Ceisteanna (575, 585, 586)

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

575. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the amount spent by his Department on public advertising and the purchase of external communications and publicity in 2018 by advertising campaign including specific amounts on social media campaigns (details supplied) or other digital platforms; the amount spent on public relations or other communications support in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53579/18]

Barry Cowen

Ceist:

585. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the amount spent on social media by his Department in 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018; the projected spend in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53993/18]

Barry Cowen

Ceist:

586. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the amount spent on marketing and media by his Department in 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018; the projected spend in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54010/18]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government

I propose to take Questions Nos. 575, 585 and 586 together.

Press and public relations functions are generally undertaken by the officials in my Department's Press Office. The engagement of external expertise is only considered where the issues involved require expert skills or capabilities that are not readily available within my Department.

The details requested for the years 2016 onward have previously been provided in reply to Questions No. 825 of 11 July 2017, 744 of 14 December 2017 and 625 of 2 October 2018. Details of 2018 expenditure to 20 November 2018 were provided in response to Question No 667 of 20 November 2018.

The information outstanding in respect of 2018 is as follows:

Campaign	Facebook	Twitter	Other
Fire Safety Week 2018/19	€5,332	-	-
Fire Safety Week 2017/2018	€1,100	€800	-
Submissions to Local Electoral Area boundary committee	€787	-	-
Electoral Register Awareness Campaign	€3,901	-	-
Newspaper ads relating to October 2018 polls, ie how to apply to change polling stations for accessibility reasons and ID docs on polling day	-	-	€20,245
Newspaper adverts on Bringing Vacant Properties Back Into Use	-	-	€20,877

While it is not possible to project total expenditure for 2019, it is anticipated that public information campaigns in respect of the European and local elections, referendums, consultations on the Electoral Commission and Electoral Register Reform and register awareness campaign will be of the order of €250,000. In addition, the expected approximate spend on general advertising on fire safety issues is €110,000, with the cost of my Department’s annual Fire Safety Campaign not yet available.