Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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476. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 1218 of 7 November 2017, the steps in relation to text messages that are generated on her Department's internal systems that are relayed through a company's (details supplied) network via a direct link for onward transmission; if during that process information is transmitted to a phone network or server outside of this jurisdiction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48042/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The routing of SMS text messages generated by my Department and submitted to the Vodafone Ireland network follows the same path that any SMS text might follow. From the outset, I should say that details of how all mobile phone service providers route their texts to destination addresses, in-state or internationally, is not information that my Department has or is responsible for. The information provided to my Department by Vodafone Ireland is as follows: for recipients located in Ireland using an Irish operator, all Vodafone customers’ texts stay within Ireland using Vodafone Ireland’s network platform. Non-Vodafone customers’ texts are passed to the Vodafone Ireland network platform and then onto the recipient’s network. How and where they are routed thereafter is determined by the recipient’s operator but it is a fair assumption that all major Irish operators keep their network platforms in Ireland.

For recipients located abroad using an Irish operator, texts are passed to Vodafone Ireland’s network platform domestically and then delivered onto whatever roaming network the recipient may be on. For Vodafone customers, this will be the Vodafone network platform in the country they are in or, where Vodafone does not have a network platform, Vodafone’s roaming partner of choice. For non-Vodafone customers, it depends entirely on their operator’s routing rules.

For recipients located in Ireland using non-Irish operators, texts are passed to Vodafone Ireland who will then send it to the foreign numbers’ home operator who, presumably then passes them to their preferred network in Ireland.

As set out in the response to the Deputy’s previous question on the matter on November 7, it is important to note that no personal information is shared in the provision of this service.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.