Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. I understand that over €9 million was spent on Covid-related advertising last year. More than €500,000 of that was spent on social media advertising. By and large, this is a huge level of expenditure by the Government. While it is absolutely necessary, I posit that it also gives the State a huge power when it comes to media. The Government is a huge contributor to media advertising, which we all know with the changing media they are very dependent on.

With most restrictions lifted, the prospect of less spend will also have a major impact on the revenues of newspapers and broadcasters, etc. It is not clear to us what oversight is in place for this spending and who decides where the advertisements are run, where the spend goes and what the reasoning behind it is. Will the Taoiseach give us some information on who make those decisions and how? I am aware from many people who work in local media - radio and newspapers - that this has caused great concern with regard to how X publications and Y broadcasters were included but they were not. Local radio stations and local newspapers are deeply concerned and would like transparency on this. Will the Taoiseach tell the House who was particularly in charge of authorising the individual spend and deciding which media bodies got advertising across the country, nationally or locally and by broadcast and by newspaper? Perhaps the Taoiseach will tell us if it was outsourced or partially outsourced, and if there was oversight by the Taoiseach's officials in the Department of such outsourcing. Will the Taoiseach tell the House if his Department expects to continue the same level of spend this year, or how much he estimates it will be tailored down? There are a lot of major questions with regard to the impact of the spend, how it was decided and whether it was outsourced. One such question relates to the possibility of disproportionate spending with some broadcasters and media compared to the smaller media, broadcasters and newspapers across the State.

Outside of the pandemic spending, what specific campaigns are planned by the Taoiseach's Department for this year? I note, for example, that the volume of people going for screening is not what it should be. The Taoiseach is aware that I have spoken to him on this issue many times. Will the Taoiseach be contemplating campaigns to increase awareness and participation in screening programmes, especially as they are so important? The HPV vaccine is a real concern for me. This is another issue on which I have campaigned and fought for inside this Chamber. Will the Taoiseach include campaigns on the HPV vaccine?

Are there other campaigns that relate to the promotion of Government launches, plans or reports that the Taoiseach's Department is projecting for this year? Surely at this stage, at the end of January, the Taoiseach will have decided same. Does the Taoiseach expect any spending on advertising to take place outside of the State this year? If so, will the Taoiseach tell the House if this spending will take place in the UK, Northern Ireland, the EU or the US?

I must have asked ten different questions there. I ask all of these questions because I remember quite distinctly the Taoiseach's contributions in this Chamber - when he sat over where Deputy McDonald sits now - on the strategic communications unit, spending, the lack of oversight, the lack of foresight, small newspapers, small radio stations, political actions etc. We need full accountability and full transparency, and we also need a full audit of how spending has been done, who made the decisions, whether it was outsourced, and who made the final calls. In the Taoiseach's situation, obviously, he must practise what he preaches.

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