Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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248. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the breakdown of the costs associated with the establishment and maintenance of gov.ie. [32685/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The cost of gov.ie until the end of 2020 was €2,446,252. This includes all hosting, development and content migration. However, the cost-savings of the project have totalled €2.92 million with further savings yet to be realised.

There are also many other benefits associated with having a central point of access for government departments. This has resulted in a cost per click in 2020 of €0.008. This is more far lower than the average cost per click for the individual departments which was €0.021.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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249. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if a review has been conducted into the way gov.ie adheres to the web content accessibility guidelines and the National Disability Authority IT accessibility guidelines; and if he will share the outcome of that review. [32686/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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A review has been carried out. This identified a range of issues – the majority of which have been addressed by the gov.ie development team. A follow-on accessibility review is planned and a report on this will be published on gov.ie in the coming months.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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250. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of plans to bring the gov.ie website up to date with web content accessibility guidelines. [32687/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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gov.ie is currently partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. The main areas in which it is not compliant are:

Tables: Tables need a new line of header code to be accessible. (This will be available by the end of July).

Images: Not all images have image or meta-descriptions. (This will be fixed by mid-July).

PDFs: Not all PDFs are accessible. (staff are being trained in making accessible PDFs)

The architecture and static elements of gov.ie are highly accessible. Lighthouse gives gov.ie a score in excess of 95%.

The other main area where gov.ie is improving accessibility is by the use of plain English. Service content on gov.ie now has an average reading age of 14. This compares with a reading age of 23 on the old departmental sites.

The gov.ie team are also planning a range of measures to improve accessibility. These include: user testing sessions, accessibility reviews, increased training for CMS users and technical improvements to the site itself.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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251. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the length of time gov.ie has been in beta phase of development; and when it will move out of beta phase. [32688/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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gov.ie has been in beta since October 2018 and will come out of beta once all departments are live later in 2021.