John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 1185: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount spent on advertising in the Irish language by his Department and by agencies under the aegis of his Department since the enactment of the Official Languages Act 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30389/08]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to my replies to Question No. 466 of 10 February 2004 and Question No. 347 of 28th February 2006 regarding expenditure on advertising by my Department during the period 2002 to 2005.

The accounting system used by my Department does not record the language of advertisements and accordingly it is not possible to give a breakdown of the amount spent on departmental advertising in the Irish language. I might make the point to the Deputy that no Regulations in relation to advertising in the two official languages have been made to date under the Official Languages Act. Such advertising in Irish as has been placed by my Department and other Departments and public bodies has been undertaken as a matter of good customer service and good practice, rather than on foot of a new statutory obligation since enactment of the Official Languages Act in 2003.

Brindley Advertising holds the Government contract for advertising in the print media (mainly for statutory and official notifications). The Department has made the following payments to Brindley Advertising:

2006 — €309,806.21

2007 — €173,308.45

2008 to date — €422,421.54

In addition, the Department has made the following payments: To the Public Appointment Service in relation to advertising of posts:

2005 — € 2,037.45,

2006 — €34,581.87,

2007 — €16,059.05,

2008 to date — € 4,435.24;

To the Golden Pages in relation to the entries in the telephone directories:

2004 — €24,393.60

2005 — €21,431.52

2006 — €22,070.40

2007 — €23,131.76

2008 to date — €24,103.20.

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to bodies under the aegis of my Department is provided in the following table below.