Departmental Expenditure

Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Questions (59)

Malcolm Byrne

Question:

59. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Transport 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). [4863/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Transport

My officials are collating the information requested and will forward it to the deputy once ready. If you do not receive a response within ten business days, please contact my private office.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Orders.

The Department of Transport uses advertising on social media platforms to engage with the public on a range of matters, including promoting the uptake of active travel and public transport in line with our Climate Action Plan goals for carbon emissions reduction. The Department also uses advertising on social media platforms to promote road safety initiatives, career opportunities, grant programmes, public consultations and the digitisation of services.

The social media platforms used for these campaigns include Meta (Instagram and Facebook), LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube. My Department has not placed paid advertisements on X/Twitter since early 2023.

Where appropriate and cost effective to do so, my Department has collaborated with social media influencers as part of its campaign activity, especially when targeting younger cohorts with digitally native content.

The strategic selection of social media channels for each campaign is based on the specific cohorts and audiences being targeted, the demographics on each platform, and the overall objectives of the communications activity.

Effectiveness, value for money, reach and engagement are monitored on an ongoing basis through post-campaign analysis, in order to ensure return on investment for all campaigns. My Department’s youth-focused digital campaign in 2025 for example, exceeded expectations in terms of performance across these metrics.

The Department of Transport was established in June 2020 and prior to this, was part of the Department of Transport, Tourism, and Sport. Paid advertising social media was in operation from 2022 onwards. For this reason, figures from 2022 onwards will be provided. All figures are inclusive of VAT.

2022

Platform	Annual total spend
Twitter/X	€9,449
Meta	€12,709
LinkedIn	€9,455
TikTok	Nil
YouTube	Nil

2023

Platform	Annual total spend
Twitter/X	€7,540
Meta	€44,461
LinkedIn	€15,654
TikTok	€4,314
YouTube	€3,746

2024

Platform	Annual total spend
Twitter/X	Nil
Meta	€8,170.9
LinkedIn	€4,203
TikTok	€3,697
YouTube	€3,746
Influencer fees and production costs	€ 4366.5

2025

Platform	Annual total spend
Twitter/X	Nil
Meta	€110,208.59
LinkedIn	€65,026.55
TikTok	€104,722.47
YouTube	€51,215.21
Influencer fees and production costs	€29,409.30