Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 October 2024
379. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the details of the advertising spend on the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; the nature and location of each advertisement; and the demographics that each online advertisement was aimed towards. [38534/24]
View answerThe Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme is an important measure in the Government’s Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. The Interdepartmental Group, that advised the Government on the design of the Scheme, estimated the cost of "Communication and Publicity" for a scheme of this scale at €2.75 million.
The Department is co-ordinating a significant public awareness campaign for the Scheme, operating on a phased basis. This campaign includes press releases, social posts, briefings with stakeholders, visits to Britain to meet with groups supporting applicants, and a paid, phased advertising campaign.
The initial phase of the paid advertising campaign ran in bursts, from end-March to end-June, across Ireland, the UK, USA and Australia. It consisted of radio (including 40+ national, regional and local stations in Ireland alone), print (including 70 inserts across national, regional and local in Ireland alone), and online advertising, along with an out-of-home poster campaign (e.g. post-offices, community centres, libraries). The total spend across all markets and media was €693,900.
With regards to online advertising, this consisted of social media ads across the meta platform, digital display ads on sites targeted at the Irish diaspora, and a paid search campaign. In Ireland, the meta ads were targeted at those aged 18-49 and 50+. Outside of Ireland they were targeted at ex-pats over 25 years of age. The digital display ads ran on sites targeted at the Irish diaspora, including Irish Central, the Irish Post, the Irish World, and the Irish Times Abroad. The search campaign ran across all markets and reached those who searched for specific terms related to the Payment Scheme.
The next phase of the public awareness campaign will commence circa mid October this year.
