Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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447. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her Department has appointed access officers in accordance with section 26(2) of the Disability Act 2005; if so, if the contact details for the access officers are available online; and if not, the reason their contact details have not been made available online. [36387/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My department is committed to offering a high-quality service to people with disabilities and Access Officers (appointed in my Department in compliance with section 26(2) of the Disability Act) play an important role in this regard. To ensure the most effective service, all customer access requests are made via a centralised mailbox and most are dealt with entirely by a central Access Officer team. This team is supplemented by the assignment of Access Officers around the country who will deal with any request from the central team that requires further action or information on schemes or services, including building access.

The Access Officer team can directly organise online meetings, book a remote Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter, or provide an accessible location for an in-person meeting. Additionally, my department offers a range of translation (into braille for example) and ISL interpretation services which are free of charge.

If a customer indicates to any department staff member that they are having difficulty with a form or accessing a service because of their disability, staff will offer as much help as possible, including assisting customers with the completion of forms. If the customer requests or requires further contact with an Access Officer, staff will refer them to the Access Officer mailbox or the staff member can do this on a customer's behalf if they are unable to e-mail directly.

This information is included on the Gov.ie website ( webpage) as well as a list of contact numbers for both schemes areas ( and Intreo /Branch Offices (gov - Intreo centres and local branch offices).