Departmental Communications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Questions (651)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

651. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation 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. [2079/18]

Written answers

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation

I can confirm that my Department does not use any anti-profanity software on its email systems or online contact forms. Past experience indicates that there are occasions when legitimate email correspondence may contain profanities, and attempting to filter such material would block this correspondence.