Public Appointments Service

Tuesday, 29 September 2026

Ceisteanna (344)

Ken O'Flynn

Ceist:

344. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether the Public Appointments Service records the source through which applicants for HSE consultant posts learned of the vacancy; the breakdown of such sources for consultant campaigns in 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026; the amount spent by the Public Appointments Service on advertising consultant campaigns in medical journals in the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68803/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation

Summary of the advertising costs from start of 2024 to present (VAT included).

Most of the costs are for adverts in the British Medical Journal. All these costs are recovered from the client and not ultimately borne by publicjobs.

YEAR	2024	2025	2026	Grand Total
Grand Total	61,990.06	32,155.69	5,833.72	99,979.47

Breakdown of Candidate Information Sources:

	Publicjobs Medical Microsite	LinkedIn	HSE Website	Training bodies website	Journals**	Other*
2024	66%	3%	20%	1.5%		9%
2025	59%	9%	23%	2%	0.5%	6%
2026	44%	14%	30%	4.5%	<0.5%	7%

* Responses to other included professional bodies/communities, social media, colleagues.

** The recruitment unit liaise directly with the advertising agency and provide quotes to clients for either print/online ads. For online ads, a link to the ad is shared with the client and they will usually include this on their own website also. The ads on The BMJ website do include links back to the advertising organisation.