COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, July 14, 2008
HEADED ITEM NO.17
South Dublin County Council
Disability Act Implementation Plan 2008-2010
‘ENABLING ACCESS – ENSURING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY’
The Disability Act, 2005 is a positive action measure that gives a statutory basis for making public services accessible. It places specific obligations on local government to ensure universal access to public spaces, buildings and services (including information provision) owned and operated by local authorities. It also requires that local authorities ensure the integration of previously separately delivered services to disabled people into mainstream services where this is practical and appropriate.
The Sectoral Plan of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DoEHLG) 2006 sets out national objectives and guidelines for access to local authority services and the built environment.
In addition to legislative obligations, the National Disability Authority provides guidelines for organisations to improve access in three critical areas:
- Access to Quality Customer Services;
- Access to the Built Environment;
- Access to services delivered via Information and Communication Technology.
The Draft Disability Act Implementation Plan 2008-2010, ‘ENABLING ACCESS – ENSURING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY’ is the Council’s plan to implement the provisions of the Disability Act, the DoEHLG Sectoral Plan and the National Disability Authority guidelines that apply to the operations of South Dublin County Council.
The broad Vision, Strategy and Aims of the draft plan are:
Vision:
Provide disabled people with equality of opportunity to access and participate in the social, economic, environmental and cultural life of South Dublin County.
Strategy:
To develop a Plan that is proactive, and improves equality of opportunity and equality of outcome for disabled people who access the services and facilities of South Dublin County Council.
Specific Aims:
To uphold any and all existing disability related commitments and legislative/policy responsibilities and articulate the principle of equality of opportunity for disabled people within the processes and services of South Dublin County Council.
Part One of the plan introduces the Vision, Strategy and Aims of this plan, and provides information on disabled people in South Dublin County. According to the Census 2006, 8.6% of the population of South Dublin County are disabled people as compared with 9.3% nationally. The largest cohort of disabled people in our county is in the older age groups (76% are aged 45 years or more). Many disabled people in the county have more than one impairment (the average being 2.7).
It sets out the policy framework at National Level and Council Level which underpins this plan and sets out our specific corporate commitments to ensuring equality of opportunity to access and participation in the social, economic, environmental and cultural life of South Dublin County. It also sets out the Council’s responsibilities and legal obligations; along with specific commitments to ensure that the approach to the built environment is underpinned with the ‘Design for All’ concept.
Part Two of this plan presents the schedule of actions to be implemented by specific departments, and arrangements for monitoring the implementation of the plan which provides for tracking of progress through the staff Performance Monitoring and Development System (PMDS) and the provision of a report on progress in the Council’s Annual Report.
General action matrices for Customer Services, Human Resources and Information Technology are followed by detailed matrices for Housing Services, Roads and the Public Realm, Parks and Landscape Services, Cemeteries, Library and Community Services Departments.
These action matrices were informed by countywide access audits undertaken in the past year (concentrating on the public realm, public buildings, parks & open spaces, cemeteries etc), a consultation process involving the public, councillors and staff and existing programmes already underway to improve access. The plan was drawn up by an inter-departmental team drawn from all service areas.
The access audits provided the first comprehensive listing of actions required to make our county accessible. In some cases this process has produced a range of works that are unlikely to be completed during the life of this plan, within available resources and budget. Therefore items that cannot be addressed during 2008-2010 due to budgetary constraints, or other practical considerations such as the need for co-ordination with external agencies will be carried forward and prioritised in the next planning period.
A major source of funding for the action plan is the National Disability Funding for local authorities from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government which for 2008 has allocated to South Dublin County Council, sums of €205,000 for Current expenditure and €400,000 for Capital expenditure to support delivery of the plan. This is supplemented by expenditure from the Council’s own resources.
This first action plan for our county to improve access by disabled people to Council information, services and facilities represents a significant development in bringing together in one document the aspirations and plans of the Council in this important area. It is the start of a process which will be built upon in the years ahead.
This draft plan is now before the members of this Council for consideration and adoption