Dr. Gerald Craddock:

I thank the Deputy. One of the big things happening at the present is Ireland signed the European Accessibility Act on 28 June this year. Under that there are six standards that are to be harmonised. One covers ICT. Two are new standards, one of which is very relevant to the question. It is around the digital support services. Within that we are talking about online automated systems, but also the use of chatbots, which we see regularly on every system we access now on the Internet. A chatbot appears looking to give the user assistance. Ireland, through our work at the centre, but also through the National Standards Authority of Ireland, is seen as the leaders in advancing these standards. It is a bit like the egg before the chicken in that the Act is in place but the standards are still in development, which is a bit of an issue not only for Ireland but the other 26 member states across Europe. A lot of the big industry players, such as Google, Microsoft etc. are saying they cannot really implement this Act until they see the actual standards. That will be a game-changer once we get these standards in place. Very much following a universal design approach, one of the standards is called "Universal Design" and relates to how we manage accessibility of products and services. We have led on that European standard for the past seven or eight years. It is now in its final revision. It is very much based on the ISO 9000 quality management series of standards. We see that from an organisational perspective and specifically how an organisation or public body or private sector organisation incorporates universal design. It is not an add-on. The issue with accessibility is, as the Deputy mentioned, often about the accessible bathroom; it is sort of retrofit. We are aiming for universal design to be a way we can embed good design that makes sure AI products and services are fully accessible, understandable and usable by people with disabilities. We see that as a significant game-changer over the next two to three years.

Returning to the question on education, we are working with the NSAI and we are talking to a lot of the third level institutions about how to incorporate these standards into their education programmes. We are talking about the new designers, be it in ICT, the built environment or product services, so they understand what these standards mean and how they can implement them in new products and new services being designed. It is critical that they are fully accessible.