Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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627. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the expenditure and planned expenditure on local radio stations in relation to promoting the working families payment during 2019; when each campaign commenced; and the amount spent or planned to be spent in respect of each local radio station in tabular form. [27459/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department is currently running a nationwide information campaign to promote the Working Family Payment. The campaign began on Monday, 10 June, and includes advertising in national newspapers, “out of home” advertising in commuter locations such as train stations and on Luas, on local and national radio stations, and on digital and social media.

Promotional campaigns are an important part of how we ensure our customers are informed of the schemes and supports to which they may be entitled. In this instance, we want to ensure our customers are informed about the Working Family Payment, particularly working families on low to moderate incomes who may not realise they qualify for the payment.

Public information campaigns are targeted carefully, using the best mix of media formats, to ensure that the Department’s messages reach members of the public effectively. Advertisements on local radio are an important part of this and help to ensure a good regional reach for the campaign.

Wavemaker, the Department’s contracted media buying agency, buys local and regional radio slots on a package basis across IRS and Urban Media (details in the following table). This is to obtain the best value while obtaining strong national reach.

My Department has yet to be invoiced for this advertising activity. The projected expenditure on local and regional radio for this campaign from the Working Family Payment media plan is detailed in the following table: