Installing fairy houses around the Isle of Man has cost the taxpayer more than ?26,000.

The figure for the ‘ambush marketing’ was revealed in the House of Keys yesterday.

Onchan MHK Julie Edge quizzed Enterprise Minister Laurence Skelly about the money spent on the project.

He confirmed the idea had come from the department’s PR agency Hope and Glory.

The total cost of the project was ?26,25 – the estimated number of people who read the press articles about the idea is 6.5 million.

Mr Skelly told the court: “Should the department have paid for such media coverage it is estimated that it would have cost ?367, 570.

“The return on the investment is therefore 14 times the cost of the initiative if measured in these terms.”