§ Mr. MaginnisTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been set aside for 435W public relations exercises relating to a possible talks agreement; what PR companies are involved; what budget has been identified for the exercise; and if she will make a statement.[37382]
§ Marjorie MowlamMy principal concern in this area is to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland have available to them all of the information which they need in order to take a decision on any agreement which may be reached, in a referendum.
Accordingly, I propose to make arrangements to have an agreement circulated as widely as possible to the people of Northern Ireland.
The total budget for printing and distribution of the agreement, the related costs of making known both its availability and the arrangements for the referendum cannot yet be predicted.
I have no proposals to involve any PR company in this work. Any advertising necessary to publicise arrangements for making the agreement available publicly will be handled by an advertising agency already contracted to the Northern Ireland Office for other ongoing work.