Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The trading online voucher scheme, available through local enterprise offices, is designed to encourage microenterprises with little or no online presence to trade more online, boost sales and reach new markets. The scheme allows expenditure for IT consultation, development or upgrade of e-commerce websites, implementing online payments or booking systems, purchase of Internet-related software, and developing an app. It can also contribute to developing and implementing a digital marketing strategy. The scheme provides a contribution of 50% towards the total costs, with a maximum grant of €2,500. As part of a project to develop the online trading capacity for any company, expenditure associated with making a website accessible would be considered under the scheme.

The scheme is targeted at the smallest of Irish businesses and will contribute to our target of 90% of SMEs at basic digital intensity by 2030, as set out in the White Paper on enterprise. Eligibility criteria for the scheme are designed to be proportionate to the scale and resources of the business.

The promotion of accessibility in all facets of life, including online, is important to ensure people with disabilities can fully participate in our society. Under the European Union regulations 2020, all public sector bodies are required to make their websites and mobile applications accessible for people with disabilities. These regulations do not exist, however, for private businesses. To support the promotion of web accessibility, guidelines and technical standards have been developed and the National Disability Authority has produced extensive guidance and codes of practice around accessibility.

I suspect the Deputy is asking for us to go beyond guidelines and codes of practice and, as part of a grant aid payout, there would be a requirement to make sure the applications being developed are fully accessible. That is not the case at present. It is something to which I will give serious consideration. I do not want to respond now with a definite yes, because there are knock-on consequences for that in terms of cost. It is, however, something we should look at.

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