Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 300: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the value of advertising placed in national newspapers in 2005; the newspapers and the amount received for each of the past five years; and if the placing of official notices and departmental advertisements are subject to a tendering process. [7695/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The use of advertising is a vital medium in the effective delivery of social welfare services to ensure all citizens are kept informed of the broad range of social insurance, social assistance schemes and other supports available to them and of changes and improvements to the schemes and services as they occur. My Department spent €176,228 on advertising in the national newspapers in 2005. Advertisements were placed in the following national newspapers at different times during the past five years: the Irish Independent, The Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, The Star, The Sun, The Mirror, Lá, The Sunday Tribune, the Sunday World, the Sunday Independent and Ireland on Sunday.

The total cost of advertising, in the national newspapers, in each of the years 2001 to 2004 was as follows: 2001: €682,779; 2002: €524,389; 2003: €120,114; 2004: €71,779. When placing advertisements in the national newspapers, my Department uses the services of an advertising agency that currently holds a contract for the placement of State advertising in the print media. The contract was awarded following a tendering process undertaken by the OPW and is for three years duration from 1 September 2004.