Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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52. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the details of any payments made by her Department, its agencies or any bodies under her aegis to any broadcasters here in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016; the broadcaster to which the funds were provided; the reason for the payments; and if there are any reasons for payments to broadcasters in 2017. [14727/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the tables.

Private Security Authority

The Private Security Authority (PSA) uses Mediavest, the organisation that holds the Department contract for the purpose of running all information campaigns in the print and broadcast media, to conduct its radio broadcast campaigns. On this basis the PSA does not pay such broadcasters directly and instead radio advertising campaigns are arranged and paid for by Mediavest on the PSA's behalf. Mediavest then recoups the relevant payments from the PSA.

Radio advertisement or information campaigns are used by the PSA for the purpose of,inter alia, advising the public that a new sector within the private security industry has become licensable, advising the public of safety issues, advising the public of regulatory requirements when engaging the services of those working in the industry, advising those working in the industry that they must be licensed operators where appropriate as required by the Private Security Services Act 2004 (as amended). Details in respect of the PSA and payments made to broadcasters by Mediavest on its behalf are set out in the table:

2. Garda Síochána Commission

In 2014 the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission paid RTE TV Library sales €61.50 (incl. VAT) for a transcript of a recording of Prime Time from 09 May 2013.

3. COSC - the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence.

In 2014 approximately €270,000 and in 2015 €278,000 was awarded to over 80 local and national domestic and sexual violence organisations for awareness raising activities. Some of this funding was allocated to advertising on local radio. It would take a disproportionate amount of time and resources to give a breakdown of how much of this funding was paid to broadcasters. However, an approximate indication would be in the region of 18% of the total cost of the expenditure for the two years in question.

On the 16 November 2016, I launched the national awareness campaign ‘What would you do?’which has been developed by Cosc. ‘What would you do?’ is a high impact media campaign to reach a national audience which features TV ads, cinema, radio, outdoor, social and digital advertising. It is intended that the campaign will run for 6 years up to 2021, with the first three years dedicated to domestic violence and the final three years focussing on sexual violence.

The breakdown of payments to broadcasters in 2016 as part of the national awareness campaign ‘What would you do?’ are as follows:

4. Charities Regulatory Authority

5. Property Services Regulatory Authority

6. Insolvency Service of Ireland

Section 9 of the Personal Insolvency Amendment Act requires the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) to “promote public awareness and understanding of matters relating to personal insolvency” and to “develop strategies for communicating with the public aimed at promoting the use of insolvency arrangements and enhancing their effective application”.

The following expenditure was incurred to promote awareness of the ISI’s solutions.