Departmental Communications

Tuesday, 25 September 2018

Questions (313)

Alan Kelly

Question:

313. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Health if Ministers, ministerial advisers or officials in his Department have ever used private email to communicate on departmental issues between one another or with other persons or organisations; if so, the reason; if so, if he will publish these emails; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38551/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

All Ministers at my Department conduct official business through official Department of Health secure email accounts. The Department's ICT Acceptable Usage Policy states that users may not transmit sensitive or classified information using third party email services. The Ministers of State do not use personal email accounts for work purposes. As previously stated, I have on rare occasions used my gmail account when my Department's server was down. Access to webmail services is not permitted from the Department's network.

While a review is underway, there is currently no policy preventing members of Government using personal accounts.