Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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514. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has any plans to expand the use of braille signage in public spaces; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53025/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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515. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has received any proposals to expand the use of braille signage in supermarkets; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53026/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 514 and 515 together.

I thank the Deputy for these questions and for highlighting the importance of accessible information for disabled people, including blind and visually impaired people.

Given the importance of accessibility for ensuring that disabled people can fully participate and thrive in their communities, Government is fully committed to increasing the accessibility of information and communication available in public spaces.

Part 3 of the Disability Act 2005 places an obligation on public bodies to ensure their services are accessible to disabled people. Section 28 states that following a request and as far as practicable, information and communication issued by public bodies to people with intellectual disabilities and hearing or visual impairments must be provided in accessible formats. Moreover, public bodies are also obliged to ensure that information provided in electronic formats is compatible with adaptive technology.

The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 launched on 3rd September sets out a whole-of-Government approach to progressively realising the rights of disabled people under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Article 9 of the UNCRPD emphasises the importance of accessibility by requiring measures to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public. Such measures include identifying and eliminating barriers to accessibility to all public facilities, services and communications.

Following on from its publication, Government is committed to the full implementation of the Strategy including priority actions related to increasing the accessibility of information in public spaces.

The integration of Universal Design principles and good practice is identified within the Strategy as a key cross-cutting capacity strengthening initiative particularly in relation to achieving increased awareness of the imperative to provide more accessible information and services to the public and enhanced delivery of more coordinated action on accessibility across all Government Departments and public bodies.