On 16 January 2007, I announced that these regulations would commence on 27 February. Since then over 560,000 information leaflets have been delivered to homes across Northern Ireland. A further 30,000 leaflets have been provided for child restraint retailers and other interested organisations and made available to callers on request.
The leaflets and additional information are available on the Department of the Environment's road safety website and from the home pages of some popular Northern Ireland websites which also carried advertising about the new legislation.
Advertisements were placed in Northern Ireland's main newspapers and a further press release issued on 20 February to remind everyone of the legislation coming in the following week. My Department also wrote to key stakeholders, including councils, transport operators, education and health boards.
In the run-up to 27 February, officials participated in five local television and 11 radio programmes, providing information and advice and answering questions.