Departmental Websites

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Questions (137)

Holly Cairns

Question:

137. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Taoiseach the way in which his Department and agencies under his remit are meeting the requirement to subject to Regulation 6, public sector bodies shall, in accordance with Regulation 3, take necessary measures to make their websites and mobile applications more accessible by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust under the directive 2016/2102 (EU), as articulated in SI No. 358/2020 - European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020. [31309/21]

Written answers

The Taoiseach

My Department’s website (www.taoiseach.gov.ie) has a compliant accessibility statement which details the commitments, compliance, and testing details of the website. It contains a commitment to achieve the AA standard under WCAG 2.1 guidelines. The website uses the WCAG level AA guidelines to test how accessible it is. The website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach is used to assess the site. Regular accessibility audits have been carried out with user testing on the site.

Accessibility on the website will be improved by :

- making photo-descriptions mandatory on gov.ie and carrying out regular spot-checks on photos on a quarterly basis.

- Publishing HTML pages instead of less accessible formats like PDF.

- Increased use of plain English to describe services to members of the public.

Complaints about the accessibility of content are managed by my Department's Disability Access Officer.

An audit of the Merrion Street website is currently underway with a view to enhancing user experience and accessibility.