Ministerial Correspondence

Thursday, 30 July 2020

Questions (902)

Alan Kelly

Question:

902. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she, her Ministers of State and or advisers have ever used private email for any form of official Government use since the formation of the Government; and if so, if she will publish all such emails and corresponding documents immediately. [19643/20]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Rural and Community Development

Neither I or my advisers have ever used private email for any form of official Government use since the formation of the Government; However, my Minister of State, Joe O'Brien T.D. used private email on occasion, copies will be forwarded to the Deputy under separate cover.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

With reference to your recent parliamentary Question, reference Ref: 19643/20, Dáil Question No 902, my Department has now collated details of the e-mail correspondence relevant to your request. A schedule of the relevant correspondence with summary detail is provided in appendix 1.

Official Department e-mail accounts are used for all official Government business in my Department. The correspondence set out on the attached schedule relates to a small number of exceptional instances where official e-mails were forwarded or copied to an alternative e-mail account used by Minister of State O’Brien for the purpose of immediate document handling or printing.

Schedule of Correspondence in respect of Parliamentary Question 19643/20 Dáil Question No 902 of 30 July 2020.

Number	Schedule of Correspondence	Summary of what the correspondence relates to	Attachment	Date of correspondence
1	Email from Department official, attaching draft press release for approval, copied to MoS private e-mail address	Stability Fund draft press release provided to Minister of State.	Stability Fund draft Press Release document	21072020
2	Email from Department official re internal expressions of interest for post of Private Secretary to Minister of State, copied to MoS private e-mail account	Application for the position of Private Secretary to Minister of State.	Expression of Interest for the Post of Private Secretary to the Minister Of State	28072020
3	Email from MoS private email account re Delegation of Functions	Communication with Adviser to Minister re proposed Delegation of Functions	None	28072020
4	Items* forwarded to MoS Green Party e-mail address by DRCD		3 emails	28072020
	*Copy for information of previous Community Service Programme Briefing note	Previous Community Service Programme briefing note provided to Minister of State for background information	Briefing note of 17/7/2019	22072020
	*Copy for information of previous internal DRCD Submission 00037-20 re Community Service Programme	Previous submission re-Community Service Programme provided to Minister of State for information	Submission DRCD 00037-20: Extension of the 2020 CSP Support Fund in line with the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business.	22072020
	*Copy for information of previous internal DRCD submission 00020-20.pdf re Community Service Programme	Previous submission re-Community Service Programme provided to Minister of State for information	Submission DRCD 00020-20: proposal to utilise the 2020 CSP support fund to enable CSP organisations retain their staff during the current covid-19 crisis	22072020