Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy James Browne, to the House. The first Commencement matter is from Senator Erin McGreehan.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is very welcome. I am asking for a discussion on the introduction of a digital accessibility grant to offer financial supports to enable companies to meet web content accessibility standards in the development of their websites and mobile applications. I will explain what digital accessibility is. It is the process of making the digital world, such as websites, mobile apps and other online tools, accessible to everyone. It is about ensuring that everyone in society can access the same information regardless of impairments or disabilities they may have. The difference an accessible website can make is huge. It means that someone who is visually impaired can shop, book flights or spend as much time as they want browsing through websites. They can research, study, communicate and work. They have the independence and autonomy to do something by themselves.

As the Minister knows, this country ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The convention requires its parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications, including information and communication technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open to or provided for the public, in both urban and rural areas. It has identified the need to create a legislative framework with concrete, enforceable and timebound benchmarks for monitoring the gradual implementation of accessibility. The EU has started this process by introducing the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020. These regulations will be extended in June 2024 through a directive which will take in private bodies as well as public sector bodies.

There are 55,000 people in this country with a visual impairment. Over 30 million people in Europe have a visual impairment. We know there is a huge cost of having a disability but we must remember that these people are also consumers of products. They are taxpayers, and equal citizens looking for equity. Customers of accessible products and services and assistive technologies are faced with high prices due to limited competition among suppliers. This is an opportunity to do better for people with disabilities and for business, as it potentially opens up brand-new markets of consumers.

I ask the Minister to consider a proposal the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, NCBI, submitted to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment last year that a disability and accessibility grant be introduced, which would offer financial supports to enable companies to meet the web content accessibility standards. It may not be a legal requirement as yet for businesses, but it is an opportunity for businesses to do better and to include accessibility aspects in existing supports, such as the online training scheme or the digital transition fund.We can do a lot better. Irish businesses could be given the platform, capability and opportunity to lead the way in Europe.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call the Minister of State, I welcome visitors from Stratford College in Rathgar to Seanad Éireann today.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator McGreehan for raising the very important issue of digital accessibility. The Senator worked very hard in this area before her term in the Seanad. She has continued that work as a Senator, as well as privately.

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. The office of the Government's chief information officer, in developing the State’s website Gov.ie, has worked to ensure that the content on the site is accessible and is developed to be accessible to those with a reading age of 14. However, these regulations do not yet exist for private businesses as the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is currently working to transpose the EU directive, known as the European Accessibility Act, into Irish law. As the regulations which will be put in place in Ireland are developed and decisions are made around the specific standards which enterprises will be expected to meet, any necessary supports that are needed to help enterprises adapt to these changes will be considered and put in place.

To support the promotion of web accessibility, guidelines and technical standards have been developed. The National Disability Authority, NDA, has produced extensive guidance and codes of practice around accessibility. The National Adult Literacy Agency, NALA, also has guidance on the use of plain English which is also important in making material accessible online.

Under Ireland’s national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital, the Government has committed to ensuring that it better serves those cohorts who are not in a position to engage online through a clear plan involving focused supports, including skills and infrastructure, and assisted digital facilities safeguarded through appropriate consents and protocols. The Government is also developing a digital inclusion roadmap which is aimed at ensuring greater coordination and cohesion across the digital agenda. There is already a lot of work being done across government to achieve digital inclusion through better skills, access and infrastructure and it is intended that the roadmap will bring this work together in a coherent manner.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for the response on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which is not his Department. The response does not directly address my request that there would be a digital accessibility grant. Such a grant was proposed by the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, NCBI, last year to the former Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy English.

I understand that the regulation has yet to be transposed into Irish law and that international standards have already been developed. Those international standards have been accepted by the EU and form part of the regulation that will be transposed. So many businesses are going online and we are offering them grants and support for digital upgrades. In that context, why not go that step further and include a requirement to ensure that the international standards on accessibility accepted by the EU and which form part of the regulation are applied to all new businesses? This will provide new markets, new space and most importantly, equity, for people who are visually impaired.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Again, I thank Deputy McGreehan for raising this very important matter. Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in the way we live, learn, work and participate in the economy and in society. Digital technologies can and should make the lives of all of our people better, for example through the creation of new job opportunities, new and more efficient ways of working, greater and more equitable access to personal, social and civic opportunities and improved accessible and inclusive government services for everyone.

However, in an increasingly digital society, those who are unable to avail of digital opportunities for whatever reason, risk being excluded from society. Social inclusion continues to be a whole-of-government policy, a key aim of which is to increase social inclusion for those who are most disadvantaged. This is reflected in the ambition, goals and commitments in the Government’s Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025, overseen by the Department of Social Protection. Meaningful digital inclusion is an important element of social inclusion and is required to achieve equitable participation in the digital society. In that context, meaningful implementation of the European Accessibility Act by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is very important.The Minister will of course be taking into account all necessary supports that are needed as the regulations are developed and the decisions are made. It is not until we work those out a little more that we can establish what necessary supports are needed to be put in place.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I commend Senator McGreehan on tabling an absolutely outstanding Commencement matter. If such a scheme was in place, it would transform the lives of people with vision impairments. I was quite disappointed the then Minister of State, Deputy English, was not able to facilitate this when I organised a meeting. I organised another meeting last week with the Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection, Deputy Richmond, so hopefully we might see some progress. Well done to Senator McGreehan.