Rise in use of banned sites linked to Dáil recess

Almost half of the known attempts to access banned websites on the Oireachtas server occurred when the Dáil and Seanad were not sitting.

A breakdown of the figures obtained by the Irish Examiner shows 17,078 of the 39,839 incidents recorded in the past four months took place when the Oireachtas was on its summer recess.

Under parliamentary rules, the Dáil and Seanad avails of an eight-week summer break, which this year lasted from July 18 until Sept 18.