COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 14, 2015

QUESTION NO. 26

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask for a report on how SDCC complies with the Barcelona Declaration 2002? and what plans are there in the future to further compliance ?

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council signed the Barcelona Declaration in 2002. A variety of actions were taken to implement the Declaration across the organisation including purchase of a Braille printer.

In 2005 the Disability Act was signed into law and we have worked consistently and innovatively over the past 10 years to uphold our responsibilities, particularly under Parts three and five of the legislation. In 2006 we appointed a Disability Liaison, Access and Equality Officer (Equality brief added in 2013).

Achievements in the period 2002 to present day include:

• Improved access across the County’s parks network and four main burial grounds;
• County Hall and Civic Offices Clondalkin Payments Offices made accessible;
• Installation of Braille and tactile way finding signage in community facilities;
• Further access improvements to County Hall Tallaght and Civic Offices Clondalkin for example upgraded accessible toilet provision in Clondalkin and installation of visual fire alerts in accessible toilets in County Hall.
• Downloadable access guides (in multiple formats), made available throught the Disability Access pages on the Councils website. These Guides outline the extensive improvements in the accessibility of public buildings and services across the County which the Council has achieved. The Guides are comprised of an Overview of the National Disability Strategy in South Dublin County, and individual access guides to County Hall, Clondalkin Civic Offices and the South Dublin County Libraries Network.
• Development and release of the innovative Jobot’s Access All Areas. This game enables people to gain an understanding of what providing appropriate accessibility for disabled people actually entails. The four locations of park, reception, toilet and kitchen each provide the user with four points of interactivity to explore solutions to common accessibility problems.
• Establishment of the South Dublin County Disability Advisory and Consultative Panel;
• Significant access improvements in the Camac Valley Caravan and Camping Park including installation of seven level access showers, upgrade / installation of 6 accessible toilets and installation of Braille and tactile way finding signage;
• Significantly improved access for disabled people in Tallaght Stadium including installation of an FM Loop System, internal induction loop facilities within the main building, upgrade of the 10 accessible toilets and 14 accessible parking spaces and installation of Braille and tactile way finding signage;
• Programme of awareness raising activities each year during the annual National Accessibility Week.
• South Dublin County Council has become a literacy friendly local authority.
• Camac Valley Caravan and Camping Park won the Award for Outstanding Customer Service in the Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards. This win was achieved due to the significant level of accessibility now available within the facility.
• National Disability Authority Disability Awareness eLearning module rolled out to staff across the organisation.
• active membership of the National Access Officers and Equality Officers Network, and the Irish Disability Studies Association
• Tallaght as the main County Town became one of the final 7 ‘cities’ for the EU Access City Award 2013. In Brussels on the 3^rd December Tallaght received a Special Mention for the accessibility of our Public Facilities and Services.

The Council’s plans for future compliance include to continue meeting our responsibilities under the Disability Act 2005 and associated legislations. To continue to strive for best practice and innovative responses to universal access and inclusion, and to meet our Plain English and accessibility commitments through literacy proofing and universal design.