Departmental Expenditure

Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Questions (161)

Malcolm Byrne

Question:

161. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total sums spent for each year from 2016 to 2025, inclusive of advertising, by his Department on social media or online platforms, including identifying separately payments to influencers on such platforms; and to set out the annual totals for that period to each specific platform, including but not limited to major platforms (details supplied). [4857/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Orders.

My Department undertakes public information campaigns where there is important information to be bring to the public’s attention. The advertising campaigns generally utilise a variety of advertising methods, including TV, radio and print as well as online advertising and social media.

For example, an awareness campaign on the electorate for Seanad university elections is currently running across broadcast print and social media. The annual National Directorate of Fire and Emergency Management’s 2025/2026 Fire Safety Campaign is running across broadcast and social media to make the public aware of the contributing factors and consequences of fire and to raising awareness of the importance of smoke alarms in the home.

My Department uses media buying agencies to secure advertising space on its behalf for campaigns. Media buying companies develop media plans, selecting a media mix to reach the largest number of people as possible among the target audience.

The spend on advertising by my Department from 2016 to the end of 2025 is listed below. The specific spend on social media platforms; Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, according to available records is listed below. The spend on X in 24/25 and 25/26 was on fire safety messaging .There is no record of my Department paying social media influencers to advertise on its behalf.

My Departmental communication team amplifies our advertising campaigns through press releases, our gov.ie website and on our own social media channels.

Year	Ad spend
2016	€456,753
2017	€485,425
2018	€381,304
2019	€476, 495
2020	€391, 790
2021	€641, 552
2022	€989,680
2023	€1.6 million
2024	€1.26 million
2025	€868,686

Year	Site name	Spend €
2018	Meta	10,396
	X (formerly Twitter)	1196.
	YouTube	497.26
	2018 total	12,089.26
2019	Meta	1,657.41
	Facebook	3082, 31
	X	1,583.85
	2019 total	6, 323.57
2020	Twitter	2,155.71
2021	Youtube	1,473,16
	Twitter	1,705.10
	Meta	2,926.69
	2021 total	6, 104.95
2022	Meta	44,997.42
	LinkedIn	985.15
	TikTok	4,115.25
	X	14,766.13
	YouTube	3, 696.63
	2022 total	68,560.58
2023	Meta	85,339.70
	Linkedin	9,691.30
	X	8, 371.86
	Youtube	11,001.79
	2023 total	114,404.65
2024	Meta	56,041.33
	Linkedin	19,874.36
	X	5,530.65
	Youtube	10,876.81
	2024 total	92,323.15
2025	Meta	55,361.
	LinkedIn	2,602.28
	X	10,399
	TikTok	6,955
	Youtube	23,007.
	2025 total	98.024