Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Seanad amendment No. 3 inserts an explicit reference to the international component of the public information campaign into section 60. I believe it is appropriate that the primary legislation references the international element of the campaign. Therefore, this amendment inserts the words: “parents and relevant persons residing outside the State” in section 60. I thank Senators for the constructive debate we had on this on Committee Stage. The public information campaign will be wide-ranging, utilising a comprehensive range of media and communications channels in response to the broad age demographic and persons affected by this legislation. The initial campaign will be run from July to October of this year, with the possibility of extending it if required. It will include a door drop of an information booklet to every single household in this country. The information campaign will also utilise television, radio and print media channels. The Department of Foreign Affairs will assist with disseminating the information campaign internationally, helping us to reach out through Ireland’s embassies, overseas stakeholder networks and media channels.

I reassure Deputy Cairns that the stakeholder advisory group is currently involved in the drafting of this campaign, which will begin in July. It has been involved in the drafting of the leaflet and it is giving feedback on that and the wider media campaign. We have been engaging with the National Adult Literacy Association, NALA, to ensure that the text of the information booklet is in plain English and is easily understood.

See this speech in context