State departments spent €1.4m on social media ads in 2022
Government departments are increasingly using social media platforms to get their messages across to the public.
Government departments have spent more than €1.4m on social media advertising this year alone.
There has been a dramatic increase in the amount spent in the past 12 months by some departments, with ads placed across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Under Leo Varadkar, the Department of Enterprise spent €157,420.06 on social media adverting this year, up from €46,617.83 in 2021.
Instagram and Facebook received €40,498.32 each in advertising fees; a further €35,288.37 was paid for Twitter ads, while the department paid out €30,425.05 to LinkedIn. Finally, advertising fees of €10,710 were paid to YouTube.
However, a breakdown of spending by campaign was not provided.
The Department of Housing spent just €6,104.95 in 2021, but this jumped to €79,401.83 this year.
A spokesperson said there has been additional utilisation of LinkedIn and TikTok this year with paid advertising being taken out in relation to the residential zoned land tax; the First Home Scheme; construction recruitment, and the River Basin Management Plan.
The Department of Health spent €281,380.52 this year, up from €170,470 in the previous year.
This included €53,664.39 which went towards highlighting the Healthy Ireland programme and €184,052.12, which was spent on a campaign to support the health of young people by sharing information about behaviours that can affect weight, as part of a series of national measures to address overweight and obesity.
The biggest spender is the Department of An Taoiseach which has paid out €739,468.81 on social media advertising over the past two years.
Of this, €720,631.26 was on 26 Covid-19 public information campaigns as part of the Government’s coordinated approach to public health communications during the pandemic.
As a result, spending this year was significantly down on 2021, with €171,578.31 of the total spent this year.
A number of other campaigns launched by the Taoiseach's department were advertised on social media including promotions to raise public awareness of a formal public consultation process run by the Future of Media Commission and to raise awareness of the Wellbeing Framework for Ireland.
Expenditure of €4,448.61 was also incurred to raise public awareness of Storm Barra in December 2021 and Storm Dudley in February 2022.
Labour party TD Sean Sherlock who received the information through a series of parliamentary questions, said there is also a concerning trend of centralisation of Government messaging, which he said means it is actually more difficult for citizens to find information despite an increased spend.
Mr Sherlock said: "There continues to be marked centralisation of messaging as evidenced by the spend on the now Taoiseach's former department, which almost doubled.
"What we are noticing is a trend for all messaging to still be housed through Merrion Street and gov.ie.
"The role of induvial line departments has diminished to the point where citizens are not being provided with up-to-date content.
"That needs to be reviewed and rectified."
The Department of Foreign Affairs was another big spender, forking out €377,953.47 across multiple campaigns this year. The spend was up on the €203,278.83 that was allocated to social media ads in the previous year.
A department spokesperson said it engages in promotion on social media where there is important information that needs to be brought to the attention of citizens, and for the wider promotion of Ireland around the world.
This included campaigns for St Patrick’s Day, encouraging the timely renewal of passports, Covid-19 travel restrictions, and the impact of Brexit.
The Department of Rural and Community Development as well as the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform did not invest directly in any social media advertising this year.
The Department of Higher Education spent €17,126.90 on social media advertising across 2021 and 2022.
Meanwhile, the total spend of the Department of Environment in 2022 was €86,721.31, this was an increase on 2021 when €30,745.78 was paid out.
The Department of Education engaged in social media advertising in respect of the 2021 Leaving Certificate Accredited Grades and Examinations process and also to highlight the public health advice for all of the school community for the period outlined.
The total cost of this social media advertising was €38,165.04. A Teaching Transforms advertising campaign cost €15,245.35.
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