Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1469. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department has carried out advertising campaigns to promote policies or programmes being implemented by same; if so, if he will provide the details of the campaign or relevant programme; the cost of advertising in publications, broadcast advertising, outdoor advertising; the cost of consultancy or production costs in each of the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21030/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has produced five advertising campaigns to promote policies or programmes for the period of time in question.

The Healthy Ireland awareness campaign 2018 sought to encourage people to make positive lifestyle choices to improve their physical and mental health. The campaign was built around the three themes of Eat Well, Think Well, Be Well and provided links to our partners for support and information to help people make those healthier choices. The total expenditure by my Department on this campaign was €400,564.40.

The Healthy Ireland awareness campaign 2019 helped to build this brand and support the greater work of Healthy Ireland and its partners. My Department positioned Healthy Ireland as the place to go where all the trusted information on health and wellbeing is in one place. The total expenditure by my Department on this campaign was €661,021.35.  

On 16 March 2020, in response to COVID-19, my Department acknowledged the importance of people maintaining their wellbeing to help them push through this unprecedented outbreak and the months that follow. With regards to this, a national wellbeing initiative was launched in April. The Healthy Ireland team in my Department, together with the HSE and Government Information Systems (GIS), led the collaborative development and delivery of the Government’s COVID-19 wellbeing campaign ‘In This Together’ to promote cross-Departmental resources and initiatives to support health and wellbeing during this challenging time. The cost of this campaign thus far is €1,086,377.96

Also during the ongoing pandemic, my Department has produced a TV campaign to promote safe shopping habits during the COVID-19 crisis. It was run across RTÉ One, Virgin Media One and TG4 in April and May of this year. The total cost of this campaign was €114,965.33. 

Finally, my Department produced a radio ad campaign to promote awareness of the introduction of regulations making completion of the COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form compulsory. The campaign was launched on 28 May and ran for two weeks across more than 30 radio stations including national, regional and local broadcasters. The cost of this ad campaign was €143,405.81.