Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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70. To ask the Taoiseach the total costs incurred by his Department from 2019 to date relating to the placing of advertisements in online/digital media platforms; and the names of the online platforms involved, in tabular form. [23475/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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From 2019 to date in 2024, the Department of the Taoiseach incurred total expenditure of €2,769,053 for advertisements online and on digital media platforms. The bulk of the expenditure from 2020-2022, €2,738,055, related to the dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 pandemic with public information campaigns on a range of online platforms including Google, X (formerly Twitter), Meta (Instagram and Facebook), LinkedIn, Tiktok, Snapchat and Youtube.

The remaining expenditure in this period, of approximately €31,000, relates to campaigns to raise awareness of national weather events, climate action and Budget initiatives as well as public consultations relating to the Future of Media Commission, the Well-being Framework for Ireland and the Department’s Irish Language Scheme. The Department of the Taoiseach engages a media buying company who advise on the media spread across online platforms as appropriate.