Departmental Communications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Questions (1516)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

1516. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her 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 this software and its effectiveness; her views on whether persons' legitimate right to petition Government may be blocked unintentionally by errors in the use of such software in determining that which qualifies as profanity being communicated in email and/or online contact forms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2080/18]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs utilises anti-profanity software which monitors its email systems and online contact forms. Inbound communications blocked by this software are forwarded to IT Helpdesk for review and, if valid and absent of malware threats to the Departmental ICT network, are then released to the correct recipient. All blocked communications are subject to human oversight and any legitimate petitions are released regardless of language or tone used.