Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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57. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the photography costs for his Department in each year since March 2011 inclusive of costs incurred from use of the ministerial allowance; the list of occasions for which photographers were booked; the photographers used; the costs associated with each occasion that a photographer was used, in tabular form; if there is a policy regarding the booking of photographers within his department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54229/17]

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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58. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the use of external public relations firms employed by his department in each year since March 2011; the list of uses of the external public relations firm; the internal department policy with regard to employing external groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54245/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 57 and 58 together.

Photography

My Department only avails of the services of external photographic agencies where it is warranted, in particular for major events and State occasions. This is a service which my Department provides so that the media can easily and freely avail of photography where their own staff photographers cannot be fully accommodated. Events such as the visit of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in May 2017 and those by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in July 2017 and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in November 2017 resulted in positive overseas media coverage of Ireland.

Through the Office of Government Procurement an updated Multi-Supplier Framework Agreement for the provision of Professional Photography and Videography is now in operation. My Department procures the services of external photographic agencies via this Framework where necessary.

In addition, my Department continues to avail of in-house resources for photography whenever possible.

In relation to photography costs for the period March 2011 to December 2016, I would refer the Deputy to the reply issued to Question No. 349 of 13 December 2016.

The cost of photography to my Department for events which took place in 2017 is listed in Table 1. A small number of invoices for photography at events held during 2017 have yet to be received. In the time available, it has not proved possible to compile a breakdown of photography costs associated with events organized by Ireland’s network of 80 diplomatic missions abroad.

Public Relations

My Department has not incurred expenditure on external public relations services since March 2011. Expenditure has, however, arisen in the context of specific initiatives under Ireland’s overseas development programme for which we have from time to time commissioned companies with a public relations and communications background to provide other professional services such as project management, logistics and event management. The information requested by the Deputy in this area is set out in Table 2.

DHR Communications has been contracted to manage and administer grants to journalists reporting on international development issues under the Simon Cumbers Media Fund (SCMF) and to manage and administer annual Africa Day celebrations.

The SCMF involves managing three funding rounds each year, including the annual SCMF student competition. This typically involves the following activities:

- Convening national and regional information workshops;

- Managing and administering the application process;

- Organising the judging process

- Providing detailed feedback to all applicants;

- Processing grant payments and keeping detailed administrative and financial records;

- Maintaining and updating the SCMF website.

It should be noted that expenses paid to third parties account for approximately 30% of the total paid to DHR for managing and administering the Simon Cumbers Media Fund. This includes costs associated with maintaining and updating the SCMF website, facilitating the judging process and raising awareness of the Fund among journalists.

Following a competitive tendering process, DHR has also been engaged to plan, manage and execute a national Africa Day flagship event in Dublin. This includes the administration of a small grants scheme for regional events which DHR managed on behalf of the Department in partnership with a number of local authorities. DHR also worked to raise public awareness of the Africa Day events, including through the use of social media and the Africa Day website. This public awareness work represented a very minor element of the overall project and was conducted in close cooperation with my Department’s communications office.

Africa Day events have been hosted by the Department in Iveagh Gardens in 2009 and 2010, in CHQ in George’s Dock in 2012 and at the Farmleigh Estate annually since 2013. In 2011, the Department supported a series of smaller-scale performances, family events, art exhibitions, debates and educational activities instead of hosting a flagship event.

In relation to the expenditure on Africa Day, expenses paid to third parties accounted for between 70% and 80% of the total costs listed below. This included expenditure on security, sanitation, venue set-up, health and safety issues and small grants to facilitate the participation of community groups.

DHR also previously provided short-term management support services for the Review of the White Paper on Irish Aid, including the logistical management of the nationwide public consultation activities.

Table 1: Photography Costs - 2017

HQ Total: €39, 165.66

Mission Total: €14, 216.21

Department Total to date for 2017: €53,381.87

Table 2

This table sets out the payments for project and event management since 2011:

Payments for Project and Event Management 2011 to 2017

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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60. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the level of expenditure by his Department from 1 January 2017 to date in 2017 on advertising of government information campaigns published specifically in national and regional newspapers in addition to all online advertising for all such government information campaigns; the name of each such information campaign to which this expenditure related; the cost of each in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54277/17]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the level of expenditure by his Department or organisations under the aegis of his department from 1 January 2017 to date in 2017 on photography, advertising, communications advice, public relations, website development, media interview training and preparation; the events, campaigns or policies to which this expenditure related; the company or person to which such payments were made in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54293/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 61 together.

Photography - 2017

My Department only avails of the services of external photographic agencies where it is warranted, in particular for major events and State occasions. This is a service which my Department provides so that the media can easily and freely avail of photography where their own staff photographers cannot be fully accommodated. Events such as the visit of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in May 2017 and those by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in July 2017 and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in November 2017 resulted in positive overseas media coverage of Ireland.

Through the Office of Government Procurement an updated Multi-Supplier Framework Agreement for the provision of Professional Photography and Videography is now in operation. My Department procures the services of external photographic agencies via this Framework where necessary.

In addition, my Department continues to avail of in-house resources for photography whenever possible.

The cost of photography to my Department for events which took place in 2017 is listed in Table 1. A small number of invoices for photography at events held during 2017 have yet to be received. In the time available, it has not proved possible to compile a breakdown of photography costs associated with events organized by Ireland’s network of 80 diplomatic missions abroad.

Table 1: Photography Costs - 2017

HQ Total: €39, 165.66

Mission Total: €14, 216.21

Department Total to date for 2017: €53,381.87

Advertising - 2017

My Department engages in advertising of Government information which it is considered necessary to bring to the attention of citizens . Online adult passport renewals are a key part of the Passport Reform Programme and my Department has advertised in 2017 in order to ensure a good uptake by citizens of this innovative service.

The advertising in question took the form of a multi-format outdoor transport campaign combined with digital units in Dublin and Belfast Airports to promote the online passport service. The outdoor transport campaign ran over two two-week cycles in May and June. The digital units in Dublin and Belfast Airports ran from May to August. In addition to the outdoor campaign, a further online and social media campaign was also run with ads being placed around digital articles and social media activity on travel-related themes. This part of the campaign ran from April until August of this year.

The advertising was successful in helping to raise public awareness of this award-winning new service and has seen over 108,000 people avail of it to date. The total cost of the advertising is outlined in the following table:

Table 2: Advertising Costs - 2017

Communications / Public Relations

In 2017, my Department has not engaged outside public relations companies for the purposes of communications or public relations advice.

My Department has from time to time commissioned companies with a public relations and communications background but this has been for the provision of other professional services such as project management, logistics and event management, particularly in relation to Irish Aid public outreach activities.

Website Development – 2017

The Department’s websites (including www.dfa.ie, www.irishaid.ie, www.globalirish.ie and those of Ireland’s 80 diplomatic missions abroad) are used to publish valuable information for citizens, including on passports and citizenship, updates on the work of the Department and its Ministers and Government travel advisories for over 200 countries abroad. The Department’s websites receive in excess of 27 million page views per year.

Maintenance and development costs during 2017 in this area have been as follows:

Table 3: Website Development Costs - 2017

Senior Department staff members have received training on communicating in crisis situations, which is fundamental in ensuring that the Department serves Irish citizens at home and abroad during consular emergencies overseas. The relevant payments made in 2017 were as follows:

Table 4: Media Interview Training and Preparation – 2017