Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality
Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion
Mr. John McDaid:
Virtually all of our offices are disability-compliant and we would make sure that any new premises we are taking are compliant with the disability legislation. Our website is compliant with the blind requirements. We have some training programmes around disability awareness, which is sometimes also linked in with equality awareness. We have a disability liaison officer and an access officer. Plain English is something we are committed to, although we can certainly do better than we are at the moment.
Ms Barry's point on section 42 is well made and it is something we are reflecting on. To pick up on one recent case that was in the news, a 96-year-old in a nursing home was the subject of proceedings. This might come back to the Deputy's earlier question on making people aware of our services.
It is something we are looking at more proactively in terms of people in those situations. How do we reach them? What is the level of our responsibility to be proactive in terms of engaging with them? We would be very engaged at the moment with Sage, which is an NGO representing people with disabilities, particularly elderly people. It is very much on the agenda.
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