Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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381. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the protocols and or guidelines he has issued in respect of the use of personal social media accounts by officials in his Department; the number of sanctions imposed by his Department on its own officials in the past ten years to date in respect of social media output by its officials, verbal, written or otherwise; if social media platforms are restricted on his Department’s network; if an application (details supplied) is available to use and or download onto Departmental-issued mobile phones; and if not, if it is barred from use. [14506/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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All Departmental staff are required to follow the Civil Service Code of Conduct in their duties as civil servants. The Civil Service Disciplinary Code categorises the inappropriate use of social media as Misconduct, and – in more serious cases – as Serious Misconduct. The Department has set out further guidance in respect of the use of personal/unofficial accounts by Departmental officials in the Department’s Social Media Usage Policy.

In accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Disciplinary Code, concerns regarding conduct, including the appropriate use of social media, may in the first instance be raised informally with a staff member with a view to resolving the matter by the use of informal measures. However on occasion it may be necessary or appropriate to initiate a formal disciplinary process in order to deal with the concern. Records relating to disciplinary sanctions in this category are not available prior to July 2016. Since then there have been six findings of misconduct in my Department arising from concerns in respect of social media.

The use of Department issued mobile devices complies with the guidance provided by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). This guidance is based on risk assessments appropriate to the circumstances and is kept under continuous review.

The Department expects all users of official devices to exercise appropriate discretion in their use, and in using relevant communications services in line with appropriate usage policies.