Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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791. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the total cost of all media advertising to his Department for each of the past five years; the efforts his Department is making to ensure that local media both print and radio are being supported as well as national media by his Department's budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37474/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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As with all areas of public expenditure, spending on media advertising is carefully controlled and limited to that necessary for the effective discharge of my Department’s functions. The principal reason for such expenditure is statutory notices that I am required to publish in the case of certain proposed authorisations, which require publication in a local newspaper circulating in the area where the proposed authorisation arises. Advertising by way of national and regional media is also required, in conjunction with press releases and conferences, to communicate the Department’s initiatives, schemes and services to the public. The largest level of expenditure arose in 2012 in the case of the Digital Switchover Campaign, which played a large part in the success of the switch from Analogue to digital broadcasting. I have set out below in tabular format the information which the Deputy requested for the years 2009 to 2013 year to date.

* This amount includes a sum of €735,490 which related to fees payable to an Advertising Agency in relation to the national Digital Switchover campaign.