Raised Bogs 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 Department is committed 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 committed 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 – Automated scanning 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 such as using a screen reader.

This website’s conformance with official accessibility guidelines

The website currently has partial conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at AA Level. Our most recent web accessibility audit for this website was on 18/11/2024.

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. We hope that this website will achieve “Level AA” conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 by December 2025.

• Contrast – Many Elements Not Meeting Contrast Requirements
• Focus Outlining – Elements do not visibly display an outline when active
• Link Identification and Purpose – Links have no indication (an underline) to indicate presence or may not clearly define purpose.
• Other Issues
• Content – Use left-aligned text for left-to-right languages, and right-aligned text for right-to-left languages
• Image – The alt attribute is missing from the logo
• Heading – Some pages do not have an h1
• Control – No skip link available
• Media – The carousel lacks pause functionality and up/down keyboard navigation. Updates will improve it
• Appearance – Improve the layout for better accessibility.
• Sub-menus are displayed visually on hover but not accessible for screen readers.
• “Social icon” is not descriptive when used by screen reader users

How to get help or send feedback on this website’s accessibility

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of this website.

• Email us at peatlandsmanagement@npws.gov.ie
• Write to us at: