Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the amount spent by my Department on advertising from 2013 to date in 2023 is set out in tabular form below, which includes both traditional and online advertising.

The Department is not in a position to demarcate online spend from other forms of expenditure, as some advertising will inevitably involve both.

*The cost of the Switch your Bank campaign is fully recoupable by AIB and Permanent TSB in the context of their restructuring plans. These costs relate to a Public awareness campaign as part of a range of competition measures agreed with the European Commission to raise awareness and promote customer switching of financial products. The Department of Finance facilitates this campaign as part of its remit to ensure that consumers are protected within the financial sector in Ireland and to ensure a healthy level of competition.

**Commission on Taxation: This relates to online advertising spend and it may include some traditional forms of advertising. It is not possible at the moment to provide an exact breakdown as to what advertising campaigns this spend relates to. However, a total of €4,442 was spent across LinkedIn and Twitter as part of the Public Consultation and Extension campaign.

***There was no direct spending on online advertising for the Financial Services Division. However, €4,879 was spent in 2021 on a consultancy contract with Daniel J Edelman. The consultancy was for specialist advice and support on the use of social media in international contexts for the international launches of the Government of Ireland’s Ireland for Finance strategy.

****Banking division had no direct spending on social media in either 2022 or 2021. However, Banking Division contributed €150,000 to help fund the CCPC bank switching campaign “Breaking Up with Your Bank” in August 2022. The CCPC managed how the advertising funds are spent across platforms in 2022.

*****In addition, the Department also contributed €35,000 to the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government for a joint print and social media campaign regarding the Residential Zoned Land Tax.