Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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694. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the frequency and duration of the publicity, marketing or advertising campaigns conducted by his Department to date in 2024; the purpose of these campaigns; the cost of these campaigns; and the agencies that conducted these campaigns, in tabular form. [41181/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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To date in 2024, my Department has run three promotional campaigns;

The Building Heroes peer-to-peer social media campaign continues to grow since its launch in April, with more than three million impressions between April-August, and reaching a further 1.5 million since it started again in September.

The campaign aims to change perceptions of careers in construction among the 15-25 year old age group by engaging a team of 12 young adults currently working or training in construction, and who are sharing their on-the-job and training stories across social media.

The Room for a Student campaign ran again this year as we continue to inform homeowners about how they can earn up to €14,000 a year tax free by renting rooms in their home to students. It is clearly having an impact with recent figures showing a significant increase in the number of digs rooms available this autumn compared to the same period last year.

This week we also launched our Build Back Home campaign, which aims to encourage skilled Irish construction workers living abroad to return home.

We know that more workers are needed if we are to reach our housing targets, and this campaign will hopefully accelerate the decision of some of those living abroad who are considering coming back to Ireland.

The purpose, cost and agencies involved in these campaigns is presented in tabular form as requested, as well as some data analytics showing the success of these campaigns to date.