Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 20 Mar 2001

Vol. 532 No. 4

Written Answers. - Electronic Communications.

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

271 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Finance if use of the Internet or the Government Intranet by Members of either House of the Oireachtas, while in their offices in Leinster House, can be monitored or logged by his Department. [7552/01]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy):

In my response to the Deputy on Tuesday, 6 March 2001 I set out the exact nature of the monitoring that my Department carries out on the central Internet access infrastructure it provides for Civil Service Departments and Offices.

Detailed monitoring or logging of the use of either the Internet or the Government Intranet by Members of either House of the Oireachtas, or indeed any member of staff of any agency connected to the central access infrastructure, would require specialist equipment and software which is not part of the infrastructure.

Use of the centrally provided infrastructure by Departments and Offices is voluntary. It is intended to replace this infrastructure with a virtual private networking facility for the public service later this year. Thereafter, all Departments and Offices will have to provide Internet facilities individually.