Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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16. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her views on several Departments monitoring the online posts of journalists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37286/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Since the foundation of the State, Government Departments and other public bodies follow the reporting of their activities and related matters by the media as a matter of course and have traditionally looked at newspapers.   In this increasingly digital age, reporting and public comment is no longer confined to the pages of newspapers and can often be found in online posts on social media.

The media often act, as our Constitution puts it, as the organs of public opinion. It would be remiss of Government Departments not to actively engage themselves in keeping abreast of public opinion, wherever it happens to be reported.  To not do so would be to run the risk of Government policy being developed and implemented in a vacuum, devoid of the informative, incisive and persuasive output of our nation’s journalists, reporters and public commentators.

In relation to my Department, reporting or public comment on my Department’s activities is not outsourced or collated centrally for internal dissemination. It is the responsibility for individual Units to keep themselves informed.

I have no function regarding the activities of other Government Departments in this regard.