Fórsa’s civil service head has said a ban on housing department staff expressing any political opinions on social media goes too far.

Derek Mullen said the union accepted that the impartiality of the civil service required constraints on staff political activity. But he said telling workers which social media posts they should ‘like’ was too restrictive.

His comments came after the Department of Housing published a social media communications policy, which warned civil servants not to use social media posts to “undermine” their minister, department or the Government. It said this ran to ‘liking’ or ‘not liking’ certain social media posts.

The policy includes a blanket ban on posting political preferences or views, endorsing political parties, or commenting on domestic or foreign political campaigns. It says staff should avoid political debate and remain apolitical in online posts and engagement.

Following a motion at the inaugural Fórsa civil service conference in 2018, the union raised the issue of political rights with civil service management. The union sought a more liberal approach to political activity at more junior civil service levels.

But the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) were not prepared to make any concessions.

Derek said the housing department instruction took the matter too far. “There shouldn’t be a difficulty with low-level social media engagement,” he said.

It’s never been more important – or easier– to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.