Information
Accessibility
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Last updated on
The government of Ireland is committed to making gov.ie accessible in accordance with S.I. 258/2020.
We are committed to achieving AA standard under WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
This accessibility statement applies to gov.ie only – not other government sites or subdomains.
gov.ie is partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.
Tables: Some tables on gov.ie do not have correctly defined headers. This makes it harder for people using screen readers or voice recognition software to read the content on the site. ( WCAG guideline 1.3.1 )
Images: Not all images on gov.ie have photo (or meta-) descriptions. If images do not have the correct descriptions then a user using assistive technologies will not learn the information conveyed in the image ( WCAG guidelines 1.1.1 )
PDFs: Many documents are published as PDFs – which are less accessible than HTML pages for people using assistive technologies. Some of the issues with PDFs include:
- the fact that they are not bookmarked ( WCAG guideline 2.4.5 )
- tables in PDFs are not defined ( WCAG guideline 1.3.1 )
This content is not an exhaustive list of non-accessible content.
PDF documents that were published before 23 September 2018 are exempt from these guidelines except where it is related to a service that a member of the public has to use.
Videos or audio published before 23 September 2020 are exempt from these guidelines
We use the WCAG level AA guidelines to test how accessible gov.ie is. We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to assess the site.
We have completed accessibility audits and have carried out user testing on the site. We will continue to do this – particularly once we can carry out in-person testing again.
- we are going to make photo-descriptions mandatory on gov.ie and carry out regular spot-checks on photos across all departments on a quarterly basis
- we will continue to work with departments to make sure they are publishing HTML pages instead of less accessible formats like PDF
- we will continue to insist that departments use plain English to describe services members of the public will rely on
Each department is responsible for its own content on gov.ie.
If you have any complaints about the accessibility of content used on a department’s site – then you can contact the relevant Disability Access Officer in each department.
If you are not happy with the department’s response then you can make a complaint to the Ombudsman under the Disability Act.
This statement was last updated on 9 June 2021.
