Social Media

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 May 2022

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Ceisteanna (363, 364, 365)

Holly Cairns

Ceist:

363. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the percentage of social media posts made on each of his Departmental social media accounts or the social media accounts of public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit that were exclusively in Irish between 1 May 2021 and 30 April 2022, inclusive; the percentage of same that feature bilingual translations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23052/22]

Holly Cairns

Ceist:

364. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the percentage of social media posts made on each of his Departmental social media accounts or the social media accounts of public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit that were exclusively in languages besides English or Irish between 1 May 2021 and 30 April 2022, inclusive; the percentage of same that featured languages besides English or Irish; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23070/22]

Holly Cairns

Ceist:

365. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the percentage of social media videos posted on each of his Departmental social media accounts or the social media accounts of public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit included closed captioning and or subtitling between 1 May 2021 and 30 April 2022, inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23088/22]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

I propose to take Questions Nos. 365, 363 and 364 together.

Corporately, my Department uses five social media accounts. In addition, there are approximately a further 40 social media accounts operated locally in my Department in areas such as our six National Parks; the LIFE Programme; National Inventory of Archaeological heritage; National Monument Service; Marine Planning Ireland and Fire Safety Ireland. Given the number of these accounts, the compilation of the information requested would involve an inordinate amount of staff time and cost, thus, for the purposes of responding to the Question, the information provided will relate only to the social media accounts of the Department itself, and not accounts operated locally. This information is currently being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

The information requested in relation to bodies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for the individual bodies concerned. Arrangements have been put in place by each Agency to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. The contact email address for each agency is set out in the following table:

State Body	Contact E-mails
An Bord Pleanála	[e-mail]
An Fóram Uisce (the Water Forum)	[e-mail]
Docklands Oversight and Consultative Forum	[e-mail]
Ervia	[e-mail]
Gas Networks Ireland	[e-mail]
Heritage Council	[e-mail]
Housing Finance Agency	[e-mail]
Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency	[e-mail]
Irish Water	[e-mail]
Land Development Agency	[e-mail]
Local Government Management Agency	[e-mail]
National Oversight and Audit Commission	[e-mail]
National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee	[e-mail]
Office of the Planning Regulator	[e-mail]
Ordnance Survey Ireland	[e-mail]
Property Registration Authority	[e-mail]
Pyrite Resolution Board	[e-mail]
Residential Tenancies Board	[e-mail]
Valuation Office	[e-mail]
Valuation Tribunal	[e-mail]
Water Advisory Body	[e-mail]
Waterways Ireland	[e-mail]

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

The total number of posts on my Department’s main social media channels from 1 May 2021 and 30 April 2022, and the percentage posted in Irish, are set out below:

- 988 Twitter posts, 1% of them in Irish (6 posts).

- 524 Facebook and Instagram posts, 1% in Irish (5 posts).

- 37 YouTube videos posted, 0% in Irish.

My Department recently created a LinkedIn channel, with 7 posts in the specified timeframe, 0% in Irish.

During this timeframe, my Department’s channels contained no content in languages other than English or Irish.

Information on the number of video posts, and the use of subtitles or closed captioning from May 2021 to April 2022, posted on my Department’s central social media accounts are set below:

- 105 videos posted on Twitter, 78% of which contained subtitles or text narrative (82 videos). No videos contained closed captioning.

- 156 videos were posted on Facebook and Instagram. 80% of these contained subtitles or text narrative (125 videos). No videos contained closed captioning.

- 37 videos were posted to YouTube in that timeframe. 89% of these contained subtitles or text narrative (33 posts). No videos contained closed captioning.

Of the 7 LinkedIn posts during that timeframe, none contained videos.

My Department is committed to maintaining high standards in accessibility in its social media posts, reports and web content. It uses the National Disability Authority Communication Toolkit for Public Service as a guide on best practice.