Social media policy at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science

The department is committed to keeping the public informed about what we do on issues concerning further and higher education, research, innovation and science. One of the key ways we seek to accomplish this is through the use of social media.

This policy shows the social media that we currently using, what can be expected on each of them, and how we interact with members of the public on these platforms. Social media updates are made by staff of the department’s communications team.

The department is not responsible, liable for and does not endorse the privacy practices of any linked websites. Your use of social media websites is at your own risk. We assume no responsibility or liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred as a result of any use or reliance upon the information and material contained within or downloaded from these channels.

We have 5 social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Below are the policies for these accounts.

Our Twitter account is @DeptofFHed.

If you follow us, you can expect tweets covering some or all of the following:

• news and information on the work of our Ministers and the department
• event information and occasional live coverage of events
• alerts about new content on our website
• information on our agencies and other offices
• retweets of our Ministers’ activities and news
• retweets of issues relating to the department
• live tweeting of government events
• other content as deemed appropriate

Following and retweets

If we follow another Twitter account, it does not imply an endorsement of any kind. Likewise, content retweeted by @DeptofFHed does not imply any endorsement of the message tweeted or the individual or organisation who tweeted it.

If you follow us, we will not automatically follow you back. This is to help our followers identify other Twitter accounts that we are following such as other government departments, our agencies, Houses of the Oireachtas, third-level institutions and any other accounts of particular relevance.

@Replies and direct messages

We welcome feedback from our followers and will try to join the conversation where possible. However, we will not be able to reply individually to all the messages we receive via Twitter.

You can contact our customer service below, of if you're a member of the media, you can contact our press office.

Availability

Twitter may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to Twitter downtime.

See our tweets

If you follow our Facebook account, you can expect posts covering some or all of the following:

• news and information on the work of our Ministers and the department
• event information and occasional live coverage of events
• alerts about new content on our website
• information on our agencies and other offices
• posts of our Ministers’ activities and news
• posts of issues relating to the department
• posts of government events
• other content as deemed appropriate

Following and sharing

If we like another Facebook account, it does not imply an endorsement of any kind. Likewise, content shared or reposted does not imply any endorsement of the message or the individual or organisation who posted it.

If you follow or like us, we will not automatically follow or like you back. This is to help our followers identify other social media that we are following such as other government departments, our agencies, Houses of the Oireachtas, third-level institutions and any other accounts of particular relevance.

Comments and direct messages

We welcome feedback and will try to join the conversation where possible. However, we will not be able to reply individually to all the messages we receive via Facebook.

You can contact our customer service below, of if you're a member of the media, you can contact our press office.

Availability

Facebook may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to Facebook downtime.

See our Facebook posts

If you visit our Instagram account, you can expect photos which include:

• events attended by our Ministers
• information campaigns and features
• other photos and content as deemed appropriate

See all our photos on our Instagram account

If you visit our LinkedIn account you can expect our posts to include:

• events attended by our Ministers and staff
• information campaigns and features
• other content as deemed appropriate
• clips of our Ministers speaking in the Houses of the Oireachtas
• more detailed features taking a closer look at government activity

See all our posts on our LinkedIn account

If you visit our YouTube channel, you can expect our videos to include:

• events attended by our Ministers and staff
• information campaigns and features
• other content as deemed appropriate
• clips of our Ministers speaking in the Houses of the Oireachtas
• more detailed features taking a closer look at government activity

Comments on YouTube page and moderation policy

Comments are generally disabled on our page.

Visit our YouTube channel