Social Media

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 March 2023

Thursday, 23 March 2023

Questions (268)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

268. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education the protocols and or guidelines she has issued in respect of the use of personal social media accounts by officials in her Department; the number of sanctions imposed by her Department on its own officials in the past ten years to date in respect of social media output by its officials, verbal, written or otherwise; if social media platforms are restricted on her Department’s network; if an application (details supplied) is available to use and or download onto Departmental-issued mobile phones; and if not, if it is barred from use. [14509/23]

Written answers

Minister for Education

My Department’s ICT Usage policy, currently under review, states that, save for approved social media accounts, staff members should not publish official business information on social media websites, bulletin boards, or other fora in the name of my Department or purport to represent its views on such platforms.

Under the Civil Service Disciplinary Code, which is issued to all new entrants, any inappropriate use of social media may be considered as misconduct. Misconduct can include inappropriate behaviour outside the workplace which has an impact or could reasonably be likely to have an impact within the workplace. Over the past ten years, there have been no disciplinary sanctions imposed on any member of the Department for this reason.

Content filtering is applied on all internet usage on my Department’s PCs. The purpose of the content filtering is to ensure that inappropriate websites and content are not accessible by staff members.

The TikTok app is not permitted to be used by my officials for official business and is excluded from the work container of all Departmental corporate smart phones.