Irish Ramsar Wetlands Committee Website.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the Government Department responsible for housing and water, for physical and spatial planning, for local government, for weather forecasting and for built and natural heritage.

The Irish Ramsar Wetlands Committee is being supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage through collaboration with project partners including the Environmental Protection Agency, National Biodiversity Data Centre, Department of Food, Agriculture and the Marine and others.

The Department is devoted to ensuring access for all. This accessibility statement explains how the Department, as the Service Provider, will endeavour to meet the requirements as set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.1 at AA Level as defined by the Web Accessibility Initiative.

Our commitment and approach to maintaining an accessible website

The Department is devoted to:

  • maintaining an accessible website in accordance with the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations.
  • ensuring that this website achieves “Level AA” conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, to comply with the National Disability Authority’s Code of Practice on Accessibility of Public Services and Information Provided by Public Bodies. (The National Disability Authority’s Centre for Excellence in Universal Design has an introduction to policy and legislation relevant to Universal Design in Ireland.)
  • ensuring that all new information on the website will achieve “Level AA” conformance to the Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
  • including accessibility when we procure 3rd-party systems or upgrades to existing systems.

How we test for conformance with official accessibility guidelines

The Department uses a range of techniques to help providing access for all. They include:

  • Automated Scanning: This provides a quick (but not complete) overview of issues that persons may encounter
  • Guidance: Provision of guidance to content editors such as using Alternate Text
  • Manual Review: Regularly performing manual review of each site and adjusting the site to help improve
    accessibility

This website’s conformance with official accessibility guidelines

The website currently has a partial conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
2.1. Our most recent web accessibility audit for this website was on 11/12/2024.

Areas for improvement and time-lines

We are aware of some areas on the website where we could improve accessibility. We are currently working to achieve this.
Areas for improvement:

  • IRWC Partners Section
  • Links not descriptive site wide
  • Carousel Controls: The carousel lacks pause functionality and up/down keyboard navigation. Updates will be made to allow users to pause the carousel and navigate with the up/down keys for improved accessibility.
  • Form Validation: The form lacks validation handling for input fields. Adding clear validation messages will guide users in correcting input errors.

How to send feedback on this website’s accessibility

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of this website.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage,
c/o Irish Ramsar Wetlands Committee,
Custom House,
Dublin 1,
D01 W6X0

Accessibility features of this website

A large number of techniques are used to enable the site become accessible for all. The process is ongoing as content changes and the structure of the site changes. Some of the accessible features on this site include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Alt Text: All Images where appropriate have suitable Alt text to provide a descriptive element to the image
    portrayed
  • Heading Outline Hierarchy: Logical sense applied to headings where possible H1, H2, H3
  • Descriptive Links: Links and Buttons have descriptive elements or Aria labels where those elements are cannot be
    provided
  • Contrast: Reasonable minimums in difference with relation to contrast between foreground elements and background
    elements
  • Navigability: Logical structure applied to the website to ensure the site can be used without a mouse
  • ARIA Landmarks: A large variety of aria- landmarks applied to aid in accessibility

This list is not exhaustive.