diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/application.js b/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
index 94579b490..5664e7303 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ var initialize_modules = function() {
   App.LocationChanger.initialize();
   App.CheckAllNone.initialize();
   App.PreventDoubleSubmission.initialize();
+  App.IeAlert.initialize();
 };
 
 $(function(){
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/dropdown.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/dropdown.js.coffee
index 0107bdf64..fafa53542 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/dropdown.js.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/dropdown.js.coffee
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 App.Dropdown =
 
   initialize: ->
-    $(document).foundation();
\ No newline at end of file
+    $(document).foundation()
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/ie_alert.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/ie_alert.js.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5328b5f3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/ie_alert.js.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+App.IeAlert =
+  set_cookie_and_hide: (event) ->
+    event.preventDefault()
+    $.cookie('ie_alert_closed', 'true', { path: '/', expires: 365 });
+    $('.ie-alert-box').remove()
+
+  initialize: ->
+    $('.ie-alert-box-close-js').on 'click', (event) ->
+      App.IeAlert.set_cookie_and_hide(event)
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/application.html.erb b/app/views/layouts/application.html.erb
index 3ac3bb7a9..15fe1fe03 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/application.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/layouts/application.html.erb
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
       <%= render 'layouts/header' %>
 
       <!--[if lt IE 9]>
-      <% if browser.ie? %>
+      <% if browser.ie? && cookies['ie_alert_closed'] != 'true' %>
         <div data-alert class="alert-box info ie-alert-box">
-          <a href="#" class="close">&times;</a>
+          <a href="#" class="close ie-alert-box-close-js">&times;</a>
           <h2><%= t("layouts.application.ie_title") %></h2>
           <p>
             <%= t("layouts.application.ie",
diff --git a/spec/features/home_spec.rb b/spec/features/home_spec.rb
index 2c99a7083..0764b353e 100644
--- a/spec/features/home_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/home_spec.rb
@@ -19,4 +19,31 @@ feature "Home" do
     end
   end
 
+  feature 'IE alert' do
+    scenario 'IE visitors are presented with an alert until they close it', :js do
+      page.driver.headers = { "User-Agent" => "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)" }
+
+      visit root_path
+      expect(page).to have_xpath(ie_alert_box_xpath, visible: false)
+      expect(page.driver.cookies['ie_alert_closed']).to be_nil
+
+      # faking close button, since a normal find and click
+      # will not work as the element is inside a HTML conditional comment
+      page.driver.set_cookie 'ie_alert_closed', 'true'
+
+      visit root_path
+      expect(page).not_to have_xpath(ie_alert_box_xpath, visible: false)
+      expect(page.driver.cookies["ie_alert_closed"].value).to eq('true')
+    end
+
+    scenario 'non-IE visitors are not bothered with IE alerts', :js do
+      visit root_path
+      expect(page).not_to have_xpath(ie_alert_box_xpath, visible: false)
+      expect(page.driver.cookies['ie_alert_closed']).to be_nil
+    end
+
+    def ie_alert_box_xpath
+      "/html/body/div[@class='wrapper']/comment()[contains(.,'ie-alert-box')]"
+    end
+  end
 end