Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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65. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way his Department and public bodies and agencies under his remit are implementing Action 16 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 (details supplied). [38502/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is committed to addressing the requirements as set out in the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021, including Action 16 - promoting accessibility and universal design principles in the implementation of the Public Service ICT Strategy.

My Department’s Accessibility Consultative Committee (ACC) meets on a quarterly basis. The ACC brings together Officials from my Department, from relevant Agencies, representatives from organisations representing people with disabilities and members of the Disability Stakeholder Group (DSG). The DSG members are appointed under the Government’s National Disability Inclusion Strategy. The minutes of these meetings, the ACC Work Programme and other related documentation are available online on gov.ie.

One of the key pillars of my Department's Statement of Strategy 2021-2023 is "Safety, Security & Accessibility" under which we will continue to progressively make our transport systems accessible for persons with disabilities, persons with reduced mobility and older people, using an integrated universal design approach. Additionally, our Customer Charter 2020-2022 has, at its core, an approach to enable citizens to interact with my Department in an accessible and flexible manner (These publications are available on my Department's website on gov.ie/transport).

My Department’s most high-volume public portal is www.motortax.ie which is overseen by our Driver Vehicle Computer Services Division (DVCSD) in Shannon where all public facing projects are assigned a member of the User Experience (UX) team. The team are trained in the application of universal design principles and work with the Division through the project’s design and development phases to ensure best practice in universal design and adherence to accessibility guidelines. An initial research phase is included to help assess user needs in terms of both usability and accessibility. In this way accessibility is built into public facing projects from day one.

Implementation of the Public Service ICT Strategy is a key consideration for ICT projects in my Department and the commitments outlined in both the Statement of Strategy and Customer Charter above extend to the delivery of all ICT-related projects that provide citizen-facing services.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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66. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way his Department and public bodies and agencies under his remit are implementing Action 32 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 (details supplied). [38519/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport.

Under the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, the NTA has statutory responsibility for promoting the development of an integrated, accessible public transport network. The NTA works with the relevant public transport operators, who have responsibility for day to day operational issues, to progressively make public transport accessible.

As required under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS), my Department has in place a disability consultative committee, known as the Accessibility Consultative Committee (ACC). The ACC’s role is to monitor and review progress in relation to the implementation of actions under the NDIS where my Department and/or its agencies, have the lead role. Membership of the ACC is drawn from:

- organisations representing people with disabilities;

- members of the Disability Stakeholders Group (DSG);

- key agencies under the aegis of my Department; and

- other relevant State Agencies.

Further information on the ACC, including the minutes of ACC meetings, and presentations to the ACC can be accessed at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/ae763e-accessibility-consultative-committee/.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) plans to set up a Transport User Advisory Group in 2021. This will involve all the various groups who avail of the services provided by the NTA. It will

include users of various modes of public transport, for example people with disabilities and older people.

Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead, Iarnród Éireann and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII)

each have an Access Officer and a Disability User Group. The User Groups provide a forum for operators to consult with and update disability organisations on accessibility proposals and developments, and for disability organisations to raise operational and other accessibility issues.