Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
71. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach if his Department has carried out advertising campaigns to promote policies or programmes being implemented by same; if so, if he will provide the details of such campaigns or relevant programmes; the cost of advertising in publications, broadcast advertising and outdoor advertising; and the cost of consultancy or production costs in each of the past two years. [21035/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2019, my Department paid for public information campaigns relating to Budgets 2019 and 2020, for public consultation notices for draft language schemes, and for the ‘Votail100’ commemorations. There was also expenditure for advertisements relating to the recruitment of Judges. The IBRC Commission, which is an independent statutory commission, contracted services to manage their public relations responsibilities.
The spend to date in 2020 has been focussed on the COVID-19 emergency.
Since March, my Department has co-ordinated communications for the whole-of-government response to the pandemic. This necessitated expenditure on a broad range of targeted public information campaigns.
At the beginning of April, a campaign was run in conjunction with the COVID-19 Community Call Forum, which was established so that local groups worked with State agencies and community and voluntary groups to provide important supports and services to any vulnerable person who needed them.
A number of campaigns were run as restrictions were imposed in order to explain the measures and reinforce public health messages.
On 1st May last, the Government’s Roadmap to Reopen Society and Business was published. A communications campaign was run to explain the different phases of the Roadmap. It was also necessary to run campaigns at each phase of the Roadmap as restrictions were lifted. The campaigns associated with the Roadmap were aimed at giving people time to prepare, so that businesses could be ready to open, for example churches and places of worship, gyms, cinemas, and leisure facilities.
Over the summer, there has been a specific campaign to help students, and all those involved in the Education sector, manage the 2020 Leaving Certificate and the new standardisation of grades model. The changes for students and teachers this year were unprecedented, and needed a clear and cohesive communications campaign.
Campaigns were developed to ensure Businesses were aware of the broad level of supports being made available by Government to them. For example, in May Government announced protocols on the Safe Return to Work, and in July the Government announced the Jobs Stimulus package which was focussed at restoring confidence and investment in the recovery. This required a significant cross Government information campaign.
At different junctures of the response to the pandemic, the Government announced its response to handling the different Phases of actions including the lifting and re-imposition of restrictions. The Government’s decisions on the restrictions for Kildare, Laois and Offaly required a targeted campaign. It was essential that citizens, business owners and communities were informed of the decisions being made by Government, and campaigns were developed and implemented to keep the public informed of these decisions.
The overall Communications strategy for Covid-19 formulates and implements a coordinated response that ensures maximum clarity for citizens, businesses and our wider community. This aligns with both World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) advice, both of which emphasise the importance of ensuring the general public is aware of the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak and further that a high degree of population understanding, community engagement and acceptance of the measures put in place are key in preventing further spread.
It is also recommended that communication strategies should target different audiences and provide the rationale behind the measures, also outlining the necessity to put a support system in place to provide essential services and supplies (e.g. food and medication), and to monitor vulnerable individuals.
Most campaigns have included Radio, newspaper and social elements.
Attached are tables with a breakdown of costs as requested by the Deputy. My Department is continuing to process payments for a number of Covid-19 related campaigns.
