Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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493. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for a breakdown of all spending on external communications and media, by company, including the amount spent and purpose of spend, in each of the past five years, in tabular form. [61210/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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We understand that this query is about payments made to communications companies for consultancy or media training in the last five years. In 2024, the Department of Education and Youth spent €3,953 on communications advice for a national primary school survey. This included help with the overall approach and creating a communications strategy. No media training was provided, and the Department has not paid for any media training or other communications consultancy work in the past five years.

By way of background, the Department of Education and Youth runs public information campaigns aimed at different parts of the school community in Ireland. This includes: children and young people in primary, post-primary and special schools; their parents and guardians; teachers, principals, and school staff; and people considering teaching as a career. Most campaign planning, delivery and evaluation is done by our inhouse Communications Unit, which has a range of skills and experience. We outsource media buying and some creative work to external advertising and design agencies.