Eoin Ó Broin
Question:250. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of plans to bring the gov.ie website up to date with web content accessibility guidelines. [32687/21]
View answerThursday, 17 June 2021
Questions (250)
Written answers
gov.ie is currently partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. The main areas in which it is not compliant are:
Tables: Tables need a new line of header code to be accessible. (This will be available by the end of July).
Images: Not all images have image or meta-descriptions. (This will be fixed by mid-July).
PDFs: Not all PDFs are accessible. (staff are being trained in making accessible PDFs)
The architecture and static elements of gov.ie are highly accessible. Lighthouse gives gov.ie a score in excess of 95%.
The other main area where gov.ie is improving accessibility is by the use of plain English. Service content on gov.ie now has an average reading age of 14. This compares with a reading age of 23 on the old departmental sites.
The gov.ie team are also planning a range of measures to improve accessibility. These include: user testing sessions, accessibility reviews, increased training for CMS users and technical improvements to the site itself.