Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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217. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department's website is accessible to persons with a disability; if the accessibility of this website is regularly reviewed, to take account of new and emerging technologies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21681/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Finance recognises the importance of ensuring that our website is accessible to everyone and is committed to achieving a minimum of  conformance level Double-A with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as well as complying with the National Disability Authority IT Accessibility Guidelines.  These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines helps to make the web more user-friendly for all people. 

The website is built using code compliant with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)W3C standards for Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The website displays correctly in current browsers and using standards-compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly.  The design of this website will respond to the width of your screen, so that you can easily find and read what you're looking for. It also responds to the size of the text, so you can increase the font size as much as you need to.

The following navigationaids are provided on www.finance.gov.ie:

- A breadcrumb link is available at the top each page to assist in navigation;

- The home page and all internal pages include a search box;

- A Skip to main content link in the site header to allow users skip over the navigation and go directly to the main content of each page.

If a member of the public has difficulty with the format of a particular document, and requires information with regard to accessing an alternative electronic format, we endeavour to provide a more accessible version where possible.  As per the Department's published Quality Customer Service Charter and Action Plan 2015-2017, queries relating to disability or access issues can be directed to the Disability Liaison Officer or the Department's Access Officers as appropriate.

The accessibility of the website is continuously reviewed as part of a broader Departmental communications strategy; as part of a current project for continuous development of the website, our Corporate Affairs section is currently instigating a website review which includes assessing accessibility guidelines and requirements to inform the project scope.