Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 458: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount which was spent in his Department from January 2002 to December 2003 for media purposes and advertising; the areas in which the money was spent, that is, national papers, provincial papers, RTE radio, local radio and so on; the amounts spent on a year to year basis; and the amount of money which was spent on videos, whether for promotional, educational or advertising purposes. [4069/04]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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A total of €3,864,128 was spent by my Department between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2003, for advertising and promotion in the media.

Expenditure was incurred on statutory notification requirements and a range of advertising campaigns to highlight issues of relevance to my Department, particularly those relating to the environment. Expenditure was spread across the whole media spectrum including the Iris Oifigiúil, television, local radio, national and provincial papers, other local publications as well as cinema advertising and billboard poster campaigns.

An amount of €15,044 was incurred in 2003 on the production of videos to promote the education and visitor services of my Department. The Department also funds the operations of ENFO — the environmental information service. ENFO provides an authoritative source of factual information on the environment and sustainable life styles. This is achieved, inter alia, through providing access to a drop-in centre, library, exhibitions, leaflets, CDs and videos.

The Department has had responsibility for heritage functions since June 2002. While some general advertising costs in relation to these are included in the above expenditure figures, other advertising costs are charged to individual heritage projects and programmes. They have not been included in the above figures because the extraction of this information under current accounting arrangements would involve a disproportionate allocation of staff time and resources.