Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1366: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount spent by his Department on media monitoring or press cutting services for each of the years 2002 to 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1983/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I refer to the reply to Question Nos 944, 946, 948, 953, 954 and 957 of 11 December 2007.

As part of a range of functions undertaken by my Department's Press Office, a daily news cuttings service is made available to all staff. This service has been provided in- house by Press Office staff since 2002 and it is accessible to all staff via the Department's intranet. The Department has been charged a licence fee for this service since 2005, amounting to just under €1300 (incl. VAT) per annum.

The press cuttings are collated by the Higher Executive Officer, Executive Officer and Clerical Officer in the Press Office every morning. In addition, regional cuttings are provided on a weekly basis by News Access Ltd to the Department's senior management team, the Minister's and the Ministers' of State Offices. At the end of last year, my Department changed the regional cuttings service to an electronic format. This is a more efficient system and has eliminated the use of paper. The cost of the regional cuttings service (incl VAT) since 2002 has been as follows:

2002 — €16,794

2003 — €11,401

2004 — €22,807

2005 — €11,593

2006 — €7,241

2007 — €8,745 (10 months)