The Office of the Chief Information Officer OGCIO manages GOV.ie the host site for the Department's website. I wish to advise the Deputy that OGCO has advised that the
compliant accessibility statement for
Gov.ie, the website that currently hosts 15 of the 19 Government Departments, including this Department, is available at the following link; https://www.gov.ie/en/help/accessibility.
Gov.ie is the main Government website and recorded over 122 million page views in 2020. Gov.ie partially complies with the double-A WCAG 2.1 standards and the 4 principles of accessibility in that it is perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. This is similar to most other government sites across the EU. Accessibility to gov.ie is being enhanced by improving the level of plain English used for services on the site. This allows users of all levels to be able to find and understand information as quickly as possible. In addition, the gov.ie team have continuously performed multiple accessibility reviews since the website went live. The gov.ie team has engaged with and continues to engage with an accessibility expert to outline all accessibility requirements. Following the last accessibility audit, 65 issues were identified and action taken to rectify and resolve these issues. In addition, OGCIO have since released updates to the core code of the gov.ie website to improve accessibility.
All other sites managed by OGCIO are currently being moved to a new CMS which has been built with WCAG compatibility in mind. This project is ongoing with satisfactory progress being made this year.
Further information is being collated in respect of other websites managed by the Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Agencies under the aegis of the Department have been asked to respond directly to the Deputy.
