Government has spent €11.5m on coronavirus public health messaging

Some €11.5m was spent by the government on advertising since the Covid-19 pandemic started. The government strategy was based on 'a coordinated response' designed to provide maximum clarity, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said. File Picture.

The Government has spent just under €11.5m on advertising since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

That figure has been almost totally dedicated to the various different campaigns run by the State across the various strands of the Covid-19 crisis to date, such as the move to a full lockdown on March 27 and the subsequent easing of restrictions in May.

Broadcast advertising across television and radio dominated the outlay, with €5.8m spent, while €4.3m was allocated to print outlets.

Perhaps surprisingly, less than €1m (€929,553) was spent on online advertising, either on social media or digital news outlets. 

Meanwhile, €469,000 was spent on “creative services”, involving bespoke advert production.

The figures have been released by the Department of the Taoiseach in response to a number of queries from assorted TDs, including Labour leader Alan Kelly, Aontú’s Peadar Tóibín, and Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy.

“Since March, my Department has coordinated communications for the whole-of-government response to the pandemic. This necessitated expenditure on a broad range of targeted public information campaigns,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin said, in his response.

“The overall communications strategy for Covid-19 is based on a coordinated response that ensures maximum clarity for citizens, businesses and our wider community. 

 “This aligns with both World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) advice, both of which emphasise the importance of ensuring the general public is aware of the seriousness of the Covid-19 outbreak and further that a high degree of population understanding, community engagement and acceptance of the measures put in place are key in preventing further spread."

The Taoiseach said the strategy follows best practice of targeting different audiences and providing the rationale behind any measures that were introduced, while stressing the need to maintain supply chains and monitor vulnerable individuals.

“A number of campaigns were run as restrictions were imposed in order to explain the measures and reinforce public health messages,” Mr Martin said.

In addition to lockdown, those messages included a campaign to raise awareness of the community call forum at the beginning of April, an initiative set up to provide support services for vulnerable people via local groups working with State agencies and community and voluntary groups.

By comparison, just €33,619 was spent in the whole of 2019 by the Taoiseach’s department, dominated by public information campaigns for the budget and the commission of investigation into the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation.

Some €1.6m was spent in 2018 across all platforms, mainly relating to major campaigns such as Project Ireland 2040 and Healthy Ireland.