Departmental Communications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Questions (1342)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

1342. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his Department uses anti-profanity software on its email systems and online contact forms; if so, the level of human oversight that is applied to the monitoring of these softwares and their effectiveness; his views on whether persons' legitimate right to petition Government may be blocked unintentionally by errors in the use of such softwares in determining that which qualifies as profanity being communicated in email or online contact forms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2081/18]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment

My Department receives over 33,000 external emails per week on average. All incoming email is scanned for the presence of malware and spam. Any email that is suspected of being spam is sent to a quarantine area where staff interaction is necessary to verify the validity of the message. If an email is found to be appropriate it can be removed from quarantine and sent to the appropriate recipient.    The scanning software used by the Department does not specifically filter for profanity terms  in respect of e-mail or online forms.   Despite the robust nature of our screening software, I am confident that a person’s right to legitimately petition my Department is not being impacted.

Question No. 1343 answered with Question No. 1258.