Dr. Aideen Hartney:

The National Disability Authority, NDA, is delighted to be here to address both committees on this very important topic. Our role is to provide evidence-informed advice to Government on disability and we incorporate the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, CEUD, which promotes universal design in the built environment, products, services and ICT. It is the only statutory centre of its kind in the world.

Universal design is the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of age, size, ability, disability or type of disability. Accessibility is encompassed within universal design. If a universal design approach is applied from the outset, then accessibility can become universal. This is reflected in Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, and the UN monitoring committee’s general comment 2. Universal design has the capacity to handle the variation and experiences referred to by Mr. Harris in his opening statement.

An accessible built environment is one in which the barriers to access by disabled people are removed or mitigated as far as possible. A universal design approach at planning stage can reduce the need for costly renovations later. The CEUD at the NDA has developed guidance for universally designed homes, places and facilities; early years learning and care settings; and the retrofit of long-term residential care settings among others. However, to Senator Carrigy's point, we believe that incorporating a requirement for a universal design approach in relevant regulations is necessary in order for this guidance to be routinely adopted. For example, we have called for a revision of Part M of the building regulations to include universal design and to ensure houses built are fully liveable for disabled people rather than just visitable as is currently the case. We advise that all new housing projects progressed by the State should be universally designed and that 10% of any development should be designed to UD+ standards, so that any wheelchair user can live in them. We also recommend the development of a national standard on housing that clearly sets out technical requirements for universally designed housing in order that a consistent approach can be applied in all local authority areas.

The Disability Act 2005 and the UNCRPD require all information and communications provided by a public body to be accessible to everyone. The NDA has developed a code of practice for accessible public services and information that sets out the detail of these requirements. We have recently revised the code to include provisions to meet the needs of those with autism and users of Irish Sign Language and to reflect the shift to digital services that was accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. We look forward to this revised version being approved by the Minister in due course. As has been referred to by Mr. Kenny and Mr. Harris, the EU web accessibility directive has brought additional obligations for public bodies to ensure their websites are accessible, and the NDA is pleased to be the national monitoring body for that directive.

The European accessibility Act is due to be transposed into Irish law in 2022 and aims to ensure there are more accessible products and services in the market at more competitive prices and with fewer barriers. A universal design approach will be key to implementation of the directive in Ireland, and the NDA has advised that multiple parties will be involved to ensure implementation moves beyond the minimum required to avoid infringement to a proactive approach to ensure standardised accessibility across both public and private sectors.

A universal design approach requires the involvement of the widest possible range of users in the design phase and a co-production approach to projects. This approach is also in keeping with UNCRPD and its requirement for the close involvement of disabled people and their representative organisations in matters relevant to their lives. Consultation initiatives themselves should be universally designed to maximise the opportunities for engagement. Our recently launched participation matters guidelines on consultation and engagement can offer support to all state actors in taking an inclusive approach to the projects in their remit.

To promote awareness and take-up of universal design, the NDA advises the importance of including it in curricula at all levels of the education system, in particular continuing professional development for specific groups such as architects, engineers and IT professionals. A universal design approach should also be taken to promote learning for all, which includes provision of accommodations that anyone who needs to can avail of. We welcome the recent developments in this regard in the further and higher education sectors.

The obligations and duties for public bodies are clear but the NDA’s work to monitor progress across these areas shows there is still considerable work to be done to ensure accessibility is embedded as standard. Our 2021 report on the web accessibility directive, which we submitted to the EU, showed that of the websites and mobile apps we monitored, none was fully compliant with the directive. However, our report shows that the majority of issues identified were common and could be easily remedied if web providers gave greater focus to their obligations with regard to accessibility. We are currently exploring structured mechanisms for monitoring compliance with Part 3 of the Disability Act and will be engaging with all Departments to remind them of their obligations and to guide on how to improve their performance where necessary as initial desk monitoring shows a number of basic steps that could be taken. The ability to monitor progress and present data to public bodies is critical to encourage and track performance over time and the NDA hopes to enhance further our monitoring capacity to help embed accessibility as standard in all public organisations.

We advise that, while universal design is recognised in legislation and several national policies and strategies, a structured and systematic approach is now required to embed it in practice. Making accessibility a consideration from design stage through to procurement and on to delivery should become part of the standard operating procedures for all State actors to ensure everyone can be included. I thank the committee. We would be delighted to answer any questions on this matter.