Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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291. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the protocols and-or guidelines she has issued in respect of the use of personal social media accounts by officials in her Department; the number of sanctions imposed by her 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 her Department’s network; if an application (details supplied) is available to use and-or download onto Department-issued mobile phones; and if not, if it is barred from use. [14520/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department's social media access is permitted only where an approved business case is made. My Department has robust guidelines and procedures in place which set out the standards for providing access to social media accounts and the acceptable usage of social media accounts for personal use in so far as such personal use relates to the Department.

Any staff member who requires access to social media sites for official work purposes must complete a business case which is signed off by an official at Principal Officer grade. Staff who have been granted access to social media sites for official purposes must be vigilant regarding their use of such sites and are responsible for always ensuring that their usage is lawful and in keeping with the Department's policies.

In relation to social media output, there have been no sanctions imposed on staff in the past 10 years.