gov.ie style guide

The gov.ie style guide covers style, spelling and grammar conventions for all content published on gov.ie, arranged alphabetically.

This guide is an evolving document. We will be adding to it as new terms arise.

By clicking on one of the letters above (in blue), you can skip to the issues which start with that letter.

abbreviation: Write words in full on first mention: 'Revised Estimates Volume (REV)' or 'Capital Gains Tax (CGT)'. Only use the abbreviation if it is better known as an acronym (an abbreviation that is pronounceable: 'NASA', 'NATO', 'AIDS')

adviser: It is a 'minister’s adviser', not 'advisor'

affordable: Avoid the use of this adjective. How do we know if everyone can afford it?

ampersand: Always use 'and'. An ampersand should only be used when it is part of the name of a company: 'Marks & Spencer'

and/or: Never use. Just use 'or'

alcohol misuse: Not 'alcohol abuse'

antisocial: Not 'anti-social' (no hyphen)

army: Use lower case for speaking about the army: 'she is an officer in the Irish army.' Use upper case for Air Corps and Defence Forces

billions: Use the word form, not the numeric form. So, '€2.1 billion'

board: Use lower case unless it’s the official name of the board. So it would be 'the Pyrite Resolution Board', but the 'management board of the Department of Finance'.

Brackets: Use round brackets, not square brackets. The only time you use square brackets is in direct quotes in speeches or news stories where something has been left out.

“The public will be able to visit [the museum] throughout the weekend.”

• Do not use round brackets to refer to something that could either be singular or plural: ‘check which document(s) you need to send to the Department of Transport.’ Using the plural will cover each possibility: ‘check which documents you need to send to the Department of Transport.’

byword: Don’t use a hyphen for 'byelection', 'bylaw', 'byproduct', 'bypass', 'byword'

cabinet: Always use lower case: 'Members of the cabinet met in Government Buildings last night.'

Capitals: DO NOT USE CAPITALS TO EMPHASISE SENTENCES. It has been proven that capitalised sentences are harder to read for the user.

The following items are capitalised (as well as the obvious things like names and places):

• departments, but only when speaking about the name of the departments (officials at the Department of Agriculture, for example)
• buildings
• place names
• brand names
• titles of specific acts or bills: 'Housing Reform Bill' (but use ‘the act’ or ‘the bill’ after the first time you use the full act or bill title)
• official names of government campaigns or schemes. The Be Winter Ready campaign for example.

The following items should not be capitalised:

• government
• white paper, green paper
• departmental board, executive board, the board
• bill: 'The bill is at committee stage', for example. However, you would capitalise the 'Children's Rights Bill'.
• committee: 'The bill is a committee stage', not 'the Bill is at Committee Stage'

coroner: 'The Mayo coroner (lower case)'

Capitalisation and sentence case: Always use sentence case when writing on gov.ie. (This means starting the sentence with a capital letter and then not using any other capitals unless it's for proper nouns like people's names)

commonly confused words: Double check words that may sound the same or have similar spelling. For example 'aggravate' does not mean to irritate or annoy - it means 'to make worse'. 'To complement' means 'to improve the quality of something'. It does not mean 'to praise someone', that is 'to compliment'.

Sentence case: Always use sentence case when writing on gov.ie. (This means starting the sentence with a capital letter and then not using any other capitals unless it's for proper nouns like people's names)

'council' and 'counsel': A 'council' is a body of people that have been appointed. 'Counsel' is a noun and means advice or consultation, or lawyers who give legal advice and fight cases in court. The verb 'to counsel' means to give advice.

COVID-19: Always capitalised. Do not use 'Coronavirus', 'Covid', or 'Covid-19' – just use 'COVID-19'.

Dáil / Dáil Éireann: Always capitalised. Do not use ‘an Dáil’ – just use 'the Dáil'.

dates: Write dates in dd mm yyyy (date month year). For example, 12 February 2017.

• when referring to a range of dates, use a hyphen in the middle. 12-13 February 2017. Write decades in digits with just an ‘s’ at the end (with no apostrophe) - for example, the 2000s.
• do not write nd/th as part of a date: 24 February 2017 not 24th February 2017
• include a comma when including the name of the day before the date: Friday, 10 February 2017

Department: Only use capital letters when referring to the department’s full title: 'A spokesperson from the Department of Finance said… ' but use lower case when mentioning in middle of text: 'It is department policy to encourage the use of Irish.'

drug misuse: Not drug abuse

drug users: The preferred term is 'people who use drugs'

email: Not e-mail

etc: Never use. Do not even use et cetera. Just list out what you need and say 'and so on' if absolutely necessary

ex: This is never used for roles on gov.ie. 'Former ministers' or 'officials' is better.

example: Always use 'for example', not 'e.g.'

farther, further: The word ‘further’ is used when talking about a period of time. ‘Farther’ is for distance.

FAQs: Do not use FAQs (frequently asked questions) on gov.ie. If the content is written properly with the user's needs in mind, there is no need for them.

fine: If it's a fine, call it 'a fine'. Don't call it 'a standard fare notice' or 'a statutory penalty'.

foot and mouth disease: Write it in lower case

general election: Write it in lower case: 'A general election was held in 1995.'

Garda: One officer is a 'Garda'. The plural is 'Gardaí'. Both should be capitalised.

government: Make government lower case when saying 'the government' or 'this government': 'It is government policy to reduce carbon emissions'

helpdesk: Write as one word, not as 'help desk'

Holocaust: Write it in upper case: Holocaust

homepage: Write it as one word and in lower case

i.e.: Do not use. Always use 'that is'

internet: Write it as one word and in lower case

Ireland: Never use 'Republic of Ireland'

Job titles: Specific job titles and ministers’ role titles should be written in upper case: 'Minister for Justice', for example.

Civil service job titles are lower case: 'Joe Bloggs is a prinicpal officer at the Department of Finance.'

King: Write in upper case when referring to a specific individual: 'King Felipe VI of Spain' or the 'King of Norway'.

law: Write in lower case: 'Minister Bloggs announced a change in the law in relation to content.'

local authority: Write in lower case. Do not abbreviate to LA.

Units of measurement: Spell them out. This includes grams, kilograms, kilometres and metres

million: Write it as one word and in lower case. For example, write it as €1 million, not €1m. This is because screen readers for the visually impaired read out 'm' as 'metre' (so '3m people' would be '3 metre people')

Minister: It’s always 'Minister Bloggs says X'. Not 'Minister Bloggs, TD, says X'. There is no need to include 'TD' or 'T.D.' (people tune out if they see acronyms they don't understand - particularly in the first line of an article')

Numbers: Always use the numeric form: for example, 1 or 100

• for numerals over 999, insert a comma. It will make it clearer: 100,000
• use a % sign for percentages: 50%
• use a 0 where there’s no digit before the decimal point: 0.5 parts per litre, not .5 parts per litre

national minimum wage: Write it in lower case

Ok/OK/OKAY: Write it as 'ok'

Onboard/onboarded: 1 word, not 2 or hyphenated

online: Always one word. Never 'on-line'.

payroll: Write it as one word and in lower case

Percent: Always use the % symbol

PDF: Always capitalise this. There is no need to spell it out

Queen: Upper case when referring to a specific individual: 'Queen Elizabeth II' or the 'Queen of Belgium'.

Quotes: Always use double quotes for speech. "Ireland is a great location for business," said Minister Bloggs.

Only use single quotes for quotes within quotes. "I was speaking to Minister Bloggs and he said 'Ireland is a great location for business' in our meeting," said Minister Duffy.

Republic of Ireland: Do not use. Only use 'Ireland'

risk assessment: Write it in lower case

service user: Write it in lower case

substance misuse: Not 'substance abuse'

suicide: 'Died by suicide', not 'committed suicide'. Headline have a guide on how to write about suicide.

TD: It’s always 'Joe Bloggs TD', not 'Joe Bloggs, T.D.' or 'Joe Bloggs T.D'. Don't use in press releases or anywhere the official title is not strictly necessary

Taoiseach: Always write in upper case. When reporting, it is preferable to use 'The Taoiseach will attend' rather than 'An Taoiseach will attend'. (This is so as to be accessible to non-Irish users)

Telephone numbers: Write number all as one, putting the area code together at the start: 01 6506500 or 094 9256488

Times: Always use 12 hour clock and so 2pm or 2.30pm or 3pm (lowercase and no space)

Titles: It's always 'Dr' or 'Mr', not 'Dr.' or 'Mr.'

town council: Write in lower case

Travellers: Write in upper case

UK: Write in upper case. Never 'U.K.' and it does not have to be spelled out as 'United Kingdom'

username: Write as one word and in lower case

URL: always capitalised. No need to spell out as Uniform Resource Locator (nobody knows what that means anyway). Can also say web address

VAT: Always capitalised. No need to spell out as Value Added Tax

website: Write as one word and in lower case

webpage: Write as one word and in lower case

wifi: Write as one word and in lower case

X/Twitter: Write as X (Twitter) or X (previously known as Twitter)

x-ray: Write as one word, lower case and hyphenated

Yes: Upper case for 'Yes': 'Yes campaign', 'Together for Yes'

zero-hours contract: Not 'zero-hour contract' or 'zero hours contract'