Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department uses traditional and online advertising to promote essential services to citizens at home and abroad. This includes campaigns relating to passport and consular services. In recent years, public awareness campaigns in relation to COVID-19 travel restrictions and Brexit have been a significant element of campaigns. The Department also uses traditional and online advertising to communicate to international audiences with the aim of projecting Ireland’s visibility and values abroad.

My Department’s campaigns use a wide range of media to reach as many citizens as possible. This includes digital and social media, video on demand (VOD), print, display touchpoints, as well as a mix of audio ads including national and regional radio stations to maximise coverage across the country and to include urban and rural communities.

In order to reach the greatest audience possible, the majority of this advertising is undertaken using commercial radio stations. However, mindful of the important role community radio can play for individual campaigns, my Department considers all options in this regard. The recent cross-governmental media campaign to raise awareness of Brexit-related UK import controls implemented at the end of January 2024 included radio ads that aired on regional and local radio outlets, as well as Dublin City FM. Dublin City Council facilitated this partnership.