Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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273. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount her Department and associated agencies have spent on social media advertising since the beginning of January 2021 until 12 June 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32622/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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My Department uses social media to promote the wide range of schemes and programmes operated under its auspices and it uses digital content to support engagement with citizens and communities across Ireland.

Effective communication with the public and stakeholders is essential in achieving the Department’s goals, particularly in relation to programmes such as Creative Ireland which is a culture-based, all-of-government initiative that aims to place creativity at the centre of public policy and public life. The core proposition of the Programme is to engage citizens and communities in creativity, recognising that personal and collective participation in creative activity has significant implications for individual, community and societal wellbeing. The Programme uses inter aliadigital platforms to deliver its core proposition principally through the Creative Ireland website and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram). The Programme has incurred costs of €563.46 on paid social media advertising from January 2021 to date. In addition, Culture Ireland spent €211.40 on advertising with Facebook for online promotion of the St. Patrick's Week Programme called SEODA.

Information on social media advertising spend by agencies of the Department is not held centrally. I am contacting the Agencies in this regard and I will forward the information to the Deputy in accordance with the timelines set out in Standing Orders.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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274. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount her Department has spent on social media content production since the beginning of January 2021 until 12 June 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32639/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Effective communication with the public and stakeholders is essential in achieving my Department’s goals. The Department uses social media, amongst other channels, to promote the wide range of schemes and programmes operated under its auspices and it uses digital content to support engagement with citizens and communities across Ireland. Total costs of €47,829.65 (ex VAT) were incurred by my Department for the production of social media content between January and 12 June 2021.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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275. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount her Department and all associated agencies have spent on public relations consultancy costs since January 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32656/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I have been informed by officials that no funding has been allocated to or contracts entered into for public relations services by the Department. My Department is actively engaged in delivering communications with the public and with stakeholders through various channels. This work is carried out in-house by the communications team and other teams within the Department. Communications activities are very important to the work of my Department, and cost effectiveness is always a factor in my Department’s plans. In relation to agencies, this information is not held centrally by the Department. I am contacting the Agencies in this regard and I will forward the information to the Deputy inaccordance with the timelines set out in Standing Orders.