Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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810. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her Department's website is accessible to persons with a disability; if the accessibility of her website is regularly reviewed to take account of new and emerging technologies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21675/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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My Department recognises the importance of ensuring that its websites are accessible to everyone and is committed to achieving a minimum of conformance level Double-A with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). An accessibility review of the Department’s main website (www.djei.ie) was commissioned earlier this year and is due to be completed this month. Any accessibility improvements recommended in the review will be implemented as soon as possible.

My Department also provides supports to a number of stakeholders through a range of smaller websites and any lessons learned in the review of the Department’s main website will be used to improve the accessibility levels of these websites. These websites include:

www.businessregulation.ie

www.clrg.org

www.pointofsinglecontact.ie

www.solvitireland.ie

www.csrhub.ie

www.lowpaycommission.ie

www.competitiveness.ie

www.skillsireland.ie

With regard to the Offices of my Department, the websites of the Companies Registration Office and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement were upgraded within the last three years with a view to enhancing their accessibility features.

The Workplace Relations Commission’s website was designed in accordance with W 3C Content Accessibility Guidelines and conforms with most of the priority 1, 2 and 3 checkpoints. Development and review of the content of this website is ongoing, and accessibility of the site for persons with a disability will continue to be assessed and prioritised as part of this process.

The website of the Patents Office is currently in the process of being redesigned. This work will include updating accessibility features and allowing for easier customer access across different devices.

My Department, its Offices and the advisory groups that it supports continue to monitor developments and changes in accessibility guidelines and general website best practice with a view to ensuring that their websites can be accessed by all.