€3m transport ad campaign a ‘waste of money’

THE opposition has branded the €3 million being spent by the Government on commercials and advertisements for its flagship transport plan as a waste of money.

It has emerged that €2.9m will be spent on promoting Transport 21 this year.

Fine Gael last night said the same amount of money being spent on media campaigning for Transport 21 over the coming years could be used to roll out up to 80 extra double decker buses.

“Taxpayers’ money is being wasted on advertising forthcoming improvements to Transport 21, instead of putting more buses in empty bus lanes,” argued the party’s transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd.

The Government says it has committed €34 billion to the overall transport plan, which includes a Dublin metro and more Luas lines.

The money will be spent up until 2015.

According to Fine Gael, however, if the media budget to promote the plan is in line with this year’s spending on advertisements, it could cost the taxpayer more than €20m.

Deputy O’Dowd said the media consultant funds would be “far better spent on improvements to bus services and dealing with gridlock.”

Calculating the cost of a double decker bus at €280,000, the TD said the money could also be used to fill up bus corridors to facilitate commuters.

Answering a question about hiring the media consultants, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said: “The campaign involves television, radio, press and outdoor advertising it will be necessary to continue to provide information and awareness to the public ... for the duration of the Transport 21.”