Mother and Baby Homes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2025

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Tuesday, 25 March 2025

Questions (656, 657)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

656. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to outline all efforts to advertise the mother and baby institutions payment scheme to date, in what countries beyond the UK, the budget committed to such efforts, the nature of such advertisements, that is, via social media, radio, print media, dissemination of information via Irish cultural-heritage centres, advertisements at bus shelters and so on, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13504/25]

Catherine Connolly

Question:

657. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to outline specific efforts to advertise the mother and baby institutions payment scheme in the United States, in what States and or cities, the budget committed to such efforts, and the nature of all such advertisements that is, social media, radio, print media, dissemination of information via Irish cultural/heritage centres, advertisements at bus-shelters and so on, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13505/25]

Written answers

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

I propose to take Questions Nos. 656 and 657 together.

The 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 over its full lifetime.

The campaign to promote the Scheme is operating on a phased basis in Ireland and in jurisdictions overseas that have a significant Irish diaspora. It includes press releases, social media posts, briefings with stakeholders, visits to Britain to meet with groups supporting applicants, and a paid, phased advertising campaign with a spend to date of almost €1.8 million across two phases.

The two phases of paid advertising to date have run across Ireland, the UK, USA, Australia and Canada. They consisted of radio, print, and online advertising, along with an out-of-home poster campaign (e.g. post-offices, community centres, libraries).

With regards to online advertising, this consisted of targeted social media ads across the meta platform, digital display ads on sites targeted at the Irish diaspora, and a paid search campaign. The search campaign in ongoing across all markets and reaches those who search for specific terms related to the Payment Scheme.

In the second phase which ran from October to December 2024, there was a particular focus on improving reach to potential applicants abroad, including Great Britain, with the addition of static advertising on public transport including on all London bus routes and tube lines and press campaigns in the US, Canada and Australia.

The following table provides additional detail requested:

Country	Press Spend €	Promoted Posts Online Spend €	Press Used
US	60,753.83	13,548.42	New York Times, Boston Irish magazine, Irish American Magazine, Irish American News, Irish Echo, Irish Edition
Australia	41,499.09	15,995.62	The Australian
Canada	26,098.62	6,162.30	Montreal Gazette, National Post (Toronto), Toronto Sun, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star

Question No. 657 answered with Question No. 656.

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