Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
203. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Transport if his Department uses community radio for advertising and public awareness campaigns; if not, the reason, given the vital role community radio often plays in the dissemination of information to local communities; if his Department will consider using community radio for public awareness campaigns in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14175/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department works closely with a media buying agency to plan its radio advertising for public awareness campaigns. The media agency have advised that community radio stations are not commercially licensed and therefore inventory is not available to trade commercially. Due to their limited scale these stations are often run off local funding, donations, and on a volunteer basis, which means they typically are not set up to take advertising.
In the past, community radio stations have gone on to become commercial regional stations - one hybrid example is Radio na Life, who were formerly non-commercial community radio but since the introduction of the Official Languages Act have sought a commercial license and are now utilised as part of Department of Transport media plans.
My Department includes local and regional radio in its advertising media plans, supporting radio in each county, and has undertaken advertising across over 20 regional stations in the past 12 months.
The performance of my Department’s advertising campaigns are carefully monitored. The choice of media is tailored to each campaign to maximise performance. My Department’s channels of communications are kept open to consistent review, including channels for radio advertising.
