Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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428. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to set down the amount that has been spent to date on the consultation, communication and engagement strategy associated with Rebuilding Ireland; and the cost associated with holding press conferences to launch each pillar of the programme. [19256/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The overall cost to date of the consultation, communication and engagement strategy associated with Rebuilding Ireland is approximately €95,700 (incl. VAT).

The main aim of the consultation, communication and engagement strategy is to ensure that the momentum for implementation is maintained throughout the life of the Plan. A key part of the successful implementation of Rebuilding Ireland is to ensure that all stakeholders and the wider public are fully aware of the commitments, understand the range of initiatives and actions being rolled out and can access relevant and up-to-date information on progress.

A number of initiatives have been put in place, aimed at maintaining and updating the information flow and providing a forum or point of contact for feedback, where needed. For example, a dedicated website,www.rebuildingireland.ie,has been put in place and a dedicated email address,rebuildingireland@housing.gov.iehas also been created. The total investment to date in the development and management of this website has been approximately €54,600 (incl. VAT).

In addition to the standard provision of text and graphic information to view and download, the website facilitates engagement with the general public through the use of video presentations, social media and the inter-active State land map, at a cost of approximately €38,900 (incl. VAT) to date. It is important to note that the video production costs include filming and content generation resources that may be used in future video presentations, thus potentially reducing the costs of future requirements in this area.

Pillar specific launches have also taken place to build implementation momentum by allowing for a deeper focus on a specific pillar area, and elaboration of the actions being taken. Four Pillar launches have taken place to date and the location and cost of each is set out in the following table. A similar launch for the Pillar 5, Utilise Existing Housing, will take place in due course.

Further requirements in terms of the website, video production and social media services for the next twelve-month period, are currently being considered. All efforts will continue to be made to keep expenditure in connection with Rebuilding Ireland to a minimum.

Further information in relation to the Consultation, Communication and Engagement Strategy and in relation to progress more generally under Rebuilding Ireland is available in the Second Quarterly Progress Report on the implementation of Rebuilding Ireland, which was published on 7 February 2017 and can be accessed at: .