Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2006
89 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of offices his Department has throughout the country; the number of these that are accessible to people with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23083/06]
View answerMy Department occupies 145 buildings throughout the country of which 129 are open to the public. These include: 65 Inspectors offices, 58 Local Offices, 4 signing centres and 2 Appeals offices.
The Department's main public offices are the 58 Local Offices of which 54 are accessible to people with disabilities. Of the 4 with accessibility problems, (Nth Cumberland St in Dublin, Athlone, Bantry and Buncrana) all will be replaced by new offices over the next 3 years. Regarding the offices for Investigative staff 45 of the 65 are accessible for people with disabilities and further progress is linked to the Disabled Access Programme being undertaken by the Office of Public Works (OPW).
The Department has secured a commitment from OPW to conduct a programme of ‘access audits' on buildings occupied by the Dept. to see what additional improvements can be brought about and the OPW have given an undertaking to carry out necessary alterations/modifications based on the results of these audits. I can assure the Deputy the Department is committed in its Customer Action Plan to provide clean, accessible public offices which ensure privacy, comply with occupational and safety standards and facilitate access for people with disabilities.
