Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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423. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the steps that are being taken by the Office of Public Works to ensure that the buildings that it has responsibility for are fully accessible for people with disabilities including having suitable toilet and changing places facilities. [29555/22]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Steps are being taken on an ongoing basis to ensure buildings are fully accessible, through the provision of facilities in accordance with Part M of the current Building Regulations, unless in specific situations where exemptions are in place.

Where buildings and facilities are in need of specific alterations in order to ensure they are fully accessible, the Office of Public Works arranges for the provision of an accessibility audit of the building and its attendant grounds where applicable. Where there are landlord controlled areas, access audits make recommendations for improvements and as these have to be agreed with the landlord, these often take several years to complete.

In some cases these alterations require planning permission to granted, alterations designed, costed and approved before any works to alter these buildings and facilities can commence. They usually involve site-specific solutions to enable Public Access for all and the provision of a range of facilities as set out under the Statutory obligations of the Building Regulations. They are either provided for the public in specific parts of the building, or attendant services areas like car parks and reception and waiting areas to comply with the Disability Act 2005.

In addition, staff with specific disabilities or who develop a disability may be provided with alterations to their place of work. These can cost up to €50K for minor alterations, or significantly more if the building is a protected structure or if for example, the circulation route to the officer’s workstation requires a series of automated doors to provide access.

New buildings have to comply with the Universal Accessibility statutory requirements, as set out under Irish Law. There are a number of points of note informing the discussion on existing buildings. These points relate to the requirement to carry out access audits, involving the insights of the users of the building and/or availing of the user experiences of disability groups available to assist the designers in assessing the facilities.

1. Accessibility Audits of building stock:

Accessibility Audits have been undertaken by the Office of Public Works, as part of the Universal Access Works Programme, since 2017. Audits are completed on a country-wide basis. They are undertaken by suitably qualified consultants. Recent audits recently undertaken include: Rosslare Garda Station, Tinahely Garda Station, Freshford Garda Station and Kilmore Quay Garda Station. These audits lead to the design, tendering and provision of improvements to the areas accessible to the public. This is a rolling programme, funded under the provisions of the Universal Access Budget which originated for the purposes of achieving compliance with Section 25 of the Disability Act 2005.

2. Changing Places Facilities:

OPW awaits the publication of the Changing Placeslegislation and will take steps to ensure compliance and facilitate the public in accordance with the conditions contained within that framework, when enacted. The locations to be chosen for the provision of Changing Places facilities will be finalised, following further investigation as to the suitability of the sites and the potential of the existing facilities to be successfully altered or extended. They are not currently required to be provided under Irish law.