Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Taoiseach if agencies, boards, quangos or other bodies within the remit of his Department have carried out advertising campaigns to promote policies or programmes being implemented by those agencies or by his Department in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007; the campaign or relevant programme; the cost of advertising in publications, broadcast advertising, online advertising, outdoor advertising and other forms of advertising as well as consultancy or production costs for each to these years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22801/08]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 157: To ask the Taoiseach if agencies, boards, quangos or other bodies within the remit of his Department have carried out or will carry out advertising campaigns to promote policies or programmes being implemented by those agencies or by his Department in the course of 2008; the campaign or relevant programme; the cost of advertising in publications, broadcast advertising, online advertising, outdoor advertising and other forms of advertising as well as consultancy or production costs to date in 2008; the anticipated cost by the end of 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22802/08]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 158: To ask the Taoiseach if he has to date in 2008, or will by the end of 2008, carry out advertising campaigns to promote policies or programmes being implemented by his Department; the details of those campaigns; the costs of advertising in publications, broadcast advertising, outdoor advertising and consultancy or production costs incurred to date in 2008; the costs that are expected to be incurred by the end of 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22803/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 156 to 158, inclusive, together.

The following advertising campaigns have been implemented by my Department or the Boards, State Bodies or Agencies under its aegis for each of the years 2005, 2006, 2007, to date in 2008 and where available, anticipated cost to end 2008.

Department of the Taoiseach

Official Languages Act 2003

On 18 April, 2008, my Department advertised for representations from interested parties in relation to the preparation of a new scheme 2008-2011 in accordance with Section 15 of the Official Languages Act 2003. The primary objective of the Act is to ensure better availability and a higher standard of public service through Irish. The new scheme will run for the three years from 2008 to 2011 and will replace our current scheme which expires later this year. The total cost of this advertising was €10,256.67.

Official Notifications

My Department places notifications in Iris Oifigiúil to publicise the making of Government appointments, Government orders and related matters. In many instances, there is a statutory requirement that such notifications be made. The expenditure incurred from 2005 — to date in 2008 is set out in the table below.

Commemorative Events

My Department has placed advertisements in the National Newspapers in relation to commemorative events such as the National Day of Commemoration and the Annual 1916 Easter Rising Commemoration. The details are outlined in the table below.

Public Service Modernisation/Better Regulation

Advertising costs have been incurred in respect of Public Service Modernisation and the Better Regulation functions of my Department as follows:Public Service Modernisation — breakdown

Better Regulation Unit — All advertising in Publications — breakdown

Information Society Policy Unit (ISPU)

The ASC (Access, Skills and Content) Initiative was established in 2005 to assist voluntary, community and not-for-profit organisations and service providers to support the participation of late adopters of technology in an inclusive Information Society.

The ISPU in my Department advertised "Calls for Proposals" to be funded through the ASC Initiative each year. This was advertised in the national newspapers and our records indicate that the cost of advertising was as follows:

Bodies under the aegis of my Department

Taskforce on Active Citizenship

The Taskforce on Active Citizenship was established in April 2006 under the Department of the Taoiseach.

The Taskforce conducted a public consultation process during 2006 and presented a set of recommendations to Government in March 2007, which included proposals to improve policies that promote a continued sense of community and greater engagement with civic and democratic processes.

Expenditure relating to the advertising campaign undertaken to promote the consultations, including PR consultancy, is broken down as follows:

National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP)

No advertising campaigns were carried out by the NCPP in 2005 and 2006. The Centre is currently carrying out a public awareness campaign in support of the National Workplace Strategy, which is designed to transform Ireland's workplaces by promoting greater levels of workplace change through partnership and innovation.

The public awareness campaign, entitled "OPEN", is a key component in communicating and promoting the strategy. The contract was awarded following a full public procurement process in accordance with EU tendering regulations. Details of expenditure to date are set out in the table below:

National Forum on Europe

The National Forum on Europe was established by the Government and the political parties in 2001 to facilitate discussion on Ireland's membership of the European Union and to debate the future of Europe. Its members are the political parties and groupings represented in the Oireachtas as well as a Special Observer Pillar of civil society organisations.

The Forum does not advocate or promote any particular course of action but provides a neutral space in which all views and analyses can be heard.

The Forum has engaged in advertising, primarily to support its programme of meetings in advance of the recent referendum, particularly its Plenary meetings in Dublin and its public information meetings around the country.

In addition, a TV and radio advertising campaign was undertaken between 27 May and 6 June highlighting the Forum's work and the wealth of information on the Treaty available on the Forum's website.

The Forum has no plans at this stage to conduct further advertising campaigns this year.

Central Statistics Office

Total Expenditure on advertising by the Central Statistics Office in the years from 2005 to 2007 amounted to just under €1.765 million. The annual distribution of this expenditure and the advertising medium used is set out in the tables beneath.

The vast bulk of this expenditure — over 95% — relates to two statistical activities, the 2006 Census of Population and the Household Surveys i.e. cyclical Household Budget Survey and the Quarterly National Household Survey.

The 2006 Census of Population public awareness and staff recruitment campaigns cost €1.55 million. The Census involved the recruitment of approximately 5,000 field and temporary HQ staff and a public awareness campaign designed to promote the active participation of all people resident in the State on Census night.

The Quarterly National Household Survey, introduced in 1997, provides estimates of employment and unemployment within three months of the end of each quarter. It has also become a key source of statistics on social topics, with the incorporation of different modular topics.

It is an on-going survey with respondents being added and removed on a rolling cyclical basis. Respondents participate in the survey for 5 quarters. Each quarter, a percentage of the respondents are replaced by new participants. The survey is conducted by the CSO's permanent field staff and focussed local advertising is used to ensure that respondents, in particular new respondents, are aware that an official survey is taking place in their area and the statistical benefits of participation.

The remaining expenditure on advertising relates to a variety of items, the main one being the annual cost of the State Directory — "the green pages" section in telephone directories. Expenditure on advertising to the end of May 2008 amounted to just under €26,000.

A little over €11,000 of this was spent on recruitment advertising and the remainder related to Quarterly National Household Survey awareness advertising.

There are no significant advertising/PR programmes currently under way or planned by the Central Statistics Office. Any further expenditure on advertising in 2008 will relate to general advertising of CSO publications and services and will probably be in the order of €25,000.

Law Reform Commission

The Commission does not engage in advertising or PR campaigns. The Commission does engage a media relations organisation to assist the Commission in preparing for the launch of its various publications.

It is essential that the legal community, interested parties and the general public are informed in advance of the launch of the Commission's publications. This normally takes the form of a press release with a summary of the Commission's recommendations. This limited form of publicity is an essential element in publicising the work of the Commission to the widest possible audience and to encourage submissions to the Commission arising from its Consultation Papers.

The level of media coverage which the Commission receives is evidence of the value of having professional expertise in this critical area.

The cost of media relations which includes the cost of the retainer and all actual vouched expenses including photography comes to €94,000 exclusive of VAT. That was the combined total between 2005 and 2007.