Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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432. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of access officers responsible for providing or arranging for and co-ordinating assistance and guidance to people with disabilities accessing her Department's services who are employed in her Department as required by section 26 (2) of the Disability Act 2005; the way that her Department makes its customers aware of this service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59299/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has appointed Access Officers in accordance with section 26(2) of the Disability Act 2005. Access Officers are responsible for providing or arranging for, and coordinating assistance and guidance to persons with disabilities, accessing services provided by the Department and generally to act as a point of contact for people with disabilities wishing to access the Department's services.

It is important to note that Access Officers are not employed specifically for this purpose, rather they are employees of the Department who carry out this role in addition to their work. My department has 16 Access Officers across the country to provide assistance to people in need of accessibility arrangements when engaging with our schemes and services. A comprehensive list of the Department's Access Officers and contact information is available to the public on gov.ie. The list details the locations and offices that each Access Officer covers, and the Officer's contact details. Members of the public who would like to avail of this service are invited to get in touch with our Access Officers via phone or email in order to arrange for an accessible way of engaging with the Department. My department is eager to draw attention to this service and does so through our regular engagement with the public, including through social media platforms.

The list of Access Officers is kept under regular review.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.