Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 500: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the policies in place to secure portable electronic data devices in his Department; if those policies have been published; if so, the locations where they can be viewed; if a system of whole disk encryption has been rolled out to all laptops in his Department; the date by which he expects a satisfactory security policy on portable electronic data devices to have been implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32404/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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It is the Department's policy to ensure that all newly procured laptops have encryption software installed as standard. A rolling project to ensure that all existing stock is updated with the latest encryption technology is also underway.

The Department's Information and Communications Technology User Policy sets out the general policy on access to and use of data held by the Department. Each user, regardless of location, is responsible for security access to his/her computer or other ICT equipment provided to them. Passwords must remain confidential and must not be relayed to any other person. This policy, which has been published, is available to all staff on the Department's internal Intranet site. The Department's Information and Communications Technology security procedures are kept under constant review.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 501: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of Department owned computer desktops or laptops or other data devices, such as blackberries and memory keys, reported lost, missing or stolen from his Department to date in 2008; the number of same later recovered or found; the number still missing; if sensitive or private data was compromised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32419/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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To date in 2008, three laptops and one external hard drive have been reported stolen and have not been recovered. No sensitive or personal data was stored on any of these devices.