Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What puzzles me then is how the Rebuilding Ireland Twitter account this past week retweeted @campaignforleo, which is the Taoiseach's political account rather than his departmental account, and the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy's political account. I have no problem with retweets where the performance of ministerial duties is concerned, but these are not departmental accounts. The tweets were political and housing related. Both included graphics that boasted about housing numbers in Dublin and clearly displayed the Fine Gael logo.

When the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach appeared before us not that long ago, the issue of the infamous strategic communications unit and the blurring of lines between news and spin or, as I call it, the buying of news were discussed. I have just come from the Dáil Chamber where we were trying to protect the mainstream media with our motion on local radio and promoting fact-based news, yet here we have the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government using subliminal messaging. Any marketing manager - I come from that sphere - will say that imagery matters and penetrates. The Department's account, which is State owned, is retweeting @campaignforleo and @MurphyEoghan with a clearly identifiable Fine Gael logo. Why is the Department retweeting political accounts carrying the Fine Gael Party's logo on the Rebuilding Ireland account? Are there internal social media guidelines in that regard?