Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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209. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on providing fully accessible changing places and toilet facilities open to the public in all buildings which his Department owns and public bodies and agencies under his remit to offer people with disabilities and carers a network of equipped spaces to take care of personal hygiene, in safety and comfort. [38724/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) has representation on the National Disability Strategy Implementation Steering Committee since 2017. Action 32 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 required that service providers actively engage with disabled people and their representatives in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of public services. In 2019, to further engage in monitoring of the effectiveness of legislation around building access, under Section 25 of the Disability Act 2005, OPW and the NDA published An Operational Review of the Effectiveness of Section 25 of the Disability Act 2005 following focused user-group /stakeholder engagement. In this instance the OPW collaborated closely with the National Disability Authority. At present, and mainly as a result of Covid 19, the OPW does not have any such consultative committees in train.

In most instances, all new works are required to apply for a Disability Access Certificate (DAC). Historical buildings, protected structures and heritage visitor sites have some dispensations, depending on the impact of alterations on the historic fabric, attendant grounds, planning restrictions, archaearchaeology or the setting or all of the above. Often in these situations, modern facilities are provided in separate purpose-built temporary or permanent accommodation. This is usually subject to a suite of statutory obligations and to consents if it relates to a national monument. In any case, the Office of Public Works strives to comply with Disability Access Certificate (DAC) requirements in both modern and historical buildings within the State’s portfolio. With regard to modern buildings, built before the advent of DAC's, OPW have a policy and ongoing programme to update those buildings to modern compliance standards, as a high priority, for which there is a dedicated Universal Access Budget.

All new or significant upgrades to existing OPW owned or leased civil service office accommodation, completed since the advent of DACs, would have gone through a regulatory DAC process or equivalent. This means that the staff and visitors to these buildings have access to universal access facilities in compliance with the Technical Guidance Documents of the Building Regulations 1997-2010.

Due to the nature of its role, my Department and the Office of Government Procurement, which is also part of my Department, currently have no office locations that provide such facilities to the general public.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) also does not have public offices open to the public for this purpose but the Office manages a number of buildings and heritage sites around the country to which the public has access. Most of these are open, albeit subject to public health restrictions, and further information can be found on the OPW website.

With the exception of the Office of the Ombudsman, all other bodies under the aegis of my Department would not, under normal circumstances, be open to the public to access these facilities. I have been advised that the office of the Office of the Ombudsman has fully accessible changing places and toilet facilities which are open to the public.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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210. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way that 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). [38742/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department and the bodies under its aegis work closely with a range of key stakeholders and organisations in the implementation of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021. As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have policy responsibility for recruitment to the civil service. As reflected in the Civil Service Renewal 2024 Strategy, the civil service is strong committed to equality of opportunity for all in terms of its recruitment and employment practices and building a more diverse and inclusive workforce that is reflective of the modern Ireland that it serves.

My Department also works closely with the National Disability Authority, as well as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and with the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth to further embed Equality Budgeting in the performance budgeting and policy making process to help ensure that resource allocation decisions are appropriately targeted. This is done through the work of the Equality Budgeting Expert Advisory Group and the Interdepartmental Group on Equality Budgeting established to further guide the ongoing rollout of Equality Budgeting.

DPER published the Public Service Performance Report in May 2022, which includes a section on Equality Budgeting. 26 metrics have been published and all the Departments reported on equality budgeting. Of these, four elaborated and provided data for disability metrics. An ongoing project with the OECD is developing a system for future tagging of equality budgeting to assist in further embedding the initiative and increasing coverage to support better policy outcomes.

In addition, my Department recently reported to the National Inclusion Strategy Stakeholder Group on the progress we made in these initiatives as part of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities.

OneLearning, the Civil Service Learning and Development Shared Service Centre based within my Department, provides staff with the opportunity to undertake a self-guided eLearning module developed by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) on Equality and Human Rights in the Public Service. This eLearning module has been developed to support and enable staff to understand and meet their obligations under the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty (Public Sector Duty) within public bodies and to support our goal to develop more diverse and inclusive workplaces.

PAS, which is a body under the aegis of my Department, is the primary recruiter for the civil service and other parts of the public service. PAS plays a central role in attracting a diverse range of talented people from all backgrounds to take up employment opportunities in the civil service. PAS launched its first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021-2023 following extensive and ongoing engagements with NGOs.

In partnership with AHEAD, the Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) Programme offers graduates with a disability a 6 month mentored paid work placement in either the private sector or Civil Service. My Department and PAS play a key role in driving the annual intakes of work placements across the Civil Service. To date, WAM has placed over 550 graduates, of which 44% (241) have been placements across 39 Departments / Offices. Over 80% of WAM graduates have subsequently secured longer-term employment upon completion of their WAM programme.

In terms of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within my own Department, the HR Unit developed a HR Strategy that has a focus on embracing and embedding a culture of diversity and inclusion across the Department through diversity initiatives and training. This has included the establishment of a vibrant cross-Divisional and cross-grade Diversity and Inclusion staff forum, the PERspectives Group. My Department has a Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) who supports new members of staff with a disability or existing staff who acquire a disability and raise awareness about disability. New hires receive the Code of Practice for the Employment of People with a Disability in the Irish Civil Service, a welcome letter from the Department’s DLO and FAQs on Disability prepared by the National Disability Authority.