Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 400: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the buildings occupied by his Department which are and which are not fully accessible to people with disabilities in tabular readable form. [31035/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The information requested by the Deputy is set out on the attached tabular statement. With the exception of those offices on which I have included specific comments, all my Department's Offices meet a basic standard of physical accessibility. In addition, my Department is continually upgrading its facilities; there is a replacement programme in place for offices found to be totally unsuitable for their purpose. In relation to those offices which are currently inaccessible, alternative arrangements are made, where necessary, to accommodate individual accessibility requirements.

Section 25 of the Disability Act, 2005 requires that all public buildings be fully accessible by 2015 and that they at least meet the minimum standard as set out in Part M of the Building Regulations, 1997-2006. The Department's Sectoral Plan (as required by section 31 of the Act) sets out an Action Plan in this regard. This Plan provides for a programme of formal access audits of our buildings and twelve such audits have been undertaken to date.

My Department is working closely with the Office of Public Works (OPW) to ensure the commissioning of these audits in line with the Sectoral Plan targets. That Office will also undertake any works of a substantive nature which are recommended on foot of the auditing programme.

At present, 19 out of 141 locations are deemed not to be fully accessible for people with disabilities. In the case of 7 of these locations, replacement with new offices is planned over the next 2 years. The ultimate objective of my Department is to ensure that all its offices used by both customers and staff with disabilities are fully accessible well in advance of the deadline of 2015 contained in the Disability Act.