Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 May 2022
460. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Defence 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. [23044/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department attempts to take every opportunity in its day-to-day interactions with customers to promote and publicise the services it provides.
My Department’s fourth Irish Language Scheme, covering the period 2022-2025, came into effect in February. The Scheme is in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, the primary objective of which is to ensure better availability and a higher standard of public services through Irish.
An example of this is the Department’s website where all static content is bilingual, in English and Irish.
The Department’s corporate documents are available in both English and Irish as follows:-
- Annual Report
- Strategy Statement
- Audited accounts or financial statement;
- Customer Service Action Plan
- Customer Charter
- Section 15 & 16 Reference Books (under Freedom of Information Acts)
Twitter is the only social media platform where my Department has a presence and in this regard there are three Twitter accounts in use by my Department. These include those of the Civil Defence and the Office of Emergency Planning with the Department of Defence Twitter account being launched in July 2020. During the period 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022 there were no exclusively Irish or bilingual translations posts made on these accounts.
However, each Branch in my Department has access to a pool of Irish speakers who volunteer to provide services in Irish when requested to do so, consequently, in time we will increase the percentage of social media posts in Irish and other languages.
