THIRTEEN government departments and their agencies have spent more than €77m on advertising during the past six years.

Revelations of just how much was being spent by various departments and state bodies come just weeks after it emerged that training agency Fás had spent €600,000 on a TV advert that was never even aired.

In many cases, the volume of advertising being placed by the departments and bodies has plummeted this year as spending is reined in to deal with the economic crisis.

The biggest spenders by far were the Department of Finance and agencies under its aegis, where expenditure on advertising has topped €21m since 2004. More than €4.5m was spent in a single year by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Public Appointments Service, figures from the department have shown. Spending in both offices has since dramatically declined. From a high of €1.621m in 2005, spending at the Public Appointments Service has dropped to just €108,175 in the first nine months of this year as a freeze on recruitment came into place.

There also appears to have been a significant decrease in spending at the Revenue Commissioners, where the advertising spend fell from a high of €3.09m in 2007 to just €900,000 for the first nine months of the year.

The Department of Finance itself also engaged in large-scale advertising campaigns, with expenditure topping €367,000 in 2006. Spending there from January to September 2009 had fallen to just €45,628.

Advertising at the Department of Health – where a total of €15.6m was spent since 2004 – also proved expensive for the taxpayer. The department said it – and later the Health Service Executive – had been involved in a long series of campaigns "in relation to alcohol, smoking, illegal drugs, obesity etc".

Spending there has also seen an enormous fall from a massive €5.389m in 2005 to just €115,003 so far this year.

State agencies under the aegis of the department have continued to pay out significant sums for advertising this year, however. In 2009, the Crisis Pregnancy Agency spent €742,807, Safe Food €203,848, the National Cancer Screening Service €616,695 and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service €428,292.

Expenditure at the Department of the Taoiseach was also considerable, with €4.338m spent since the beginning of 2004.

In all, 13 government departments supplied figures in response to a series of questions by Fine Gael TD Damien English, while two were unable to compile statistics in the time available.

What The Departments and Bodies Paid

Dept of Taoiseach: €4,338,343
Dept of Enterprise, Trade & Employment (state bodies/agencies not included): €7,092,721
Dept of Finance (OPW not included): €21,925,471
Dept of Health (HSE not included fully)€15,671,152
Dept of Defence: €3,692,588
Dept of Transport (state bodies/agencies not included): €556,246
Dept of Justice (state bodies/agencies not included): €325,866
Dept of Foreign Affairs: €2,688,993
Dept of Arts, Sport & Tourism (state bodies/agencies not included): €1,054,281
Dept of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs (state bodies/agencies not included): €217,321
Dept of Social & Family Affairs: €10,478,000
Dept of Environment: Not available
Dept of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources: Not available
Department of Agriculture (state bodies/agencies not included): €6,297,274
Dept of Education (state bodies/agencies not included): €3,489,816
Total: €77.8 million