Public Service Accessibility

“Making public services accessible and employing people with disabilities” conference

Our conference “Making public services accessible and employing people with disabilities” took place on Wednesday, 27th June, in the Camden Court Hotel in Dublin. The morning session focused on accessible public services, and the afternoon session on employment of people with disabilities in the public sector. The conference was aimed at:

  • Government Departments and public bodies, including local authorities
  • Access Officers
  • Disability Liaison Officers, Equality officers and Human Resources staff in the public sector
  • Monitoring Committees for Part 5 of the Disability Act
  • Disability organisations
  • Public sector trade unions.
Agenda for “Making public services accessible and employing people with disabilities” conference
Time Session Presenter
9:00am Registration; coffee and tea
9:30am Welcome Siobhan Barron, Director, National Disability Authority
9:45am Speech Mr Brendan Howlin T.D., Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
10:00am Session 1: “Making public services accessible” Chair: Tony Buckley, Regional Director, Revenue
10:05am “Universal access to public services” Brian O’Connell, B.Arch. BL FRIAI RIBA, Architect, Director, O’Connell Mahon Architects
10:35am “How we made our services accessible”
10:55am “Accessibility Toolkit” Alan Dalton, Accessibility Development Advisor, Access Officer, National Disability Authority
11:15am Coffee and tea
11:45am “Building for Everyone: a Universal Design Approach” Neil Murphy, Senior Design Built Environment Officer, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design
12:05pm “Disability equality training eLearning” Shane Hogan, Senior Standards Officer, National Disability Authority
12:25pm Questions and answers
12:40pm Sit-down lunch
2:00pm Welcome Eithne Fitzgerald, Head of Policy and Research, National Disability Authority
2:10pm Session 2: “Employing people with disabilities” Chair: Marion Wilkinson, Senior Policy & Public Affairs Advisor, National Disability Authority
2:15pm “Work without limits” Denis Casey, Equality Officer, Dublin City Council
2:30pm “A new lease of life in the Public Service—a personal history” Fergus Synnott, Cabra Area Manager, Dublin City Council
2:35pm “Project Search: an employer-led internship model for people with intellectual disabilities” Liz Garnham, Trainer in Systematic Instruction, Project Search UK
3:05pm “Teagasc: a retention case study” Vanessa Bailey, HR Officer—Knowledge Transfer & Operations, Teagasc
3:25pm “Positive work experiences for people with mental health issues” Teresa Mallon, National Executive Chairperson, IASE (Irish Association of Supported Employment)
3:45pm “National Disability Authority — Supports to public bodies to achieve the 3% target” Niamh Fawl, Policy & Public Affairs Advisor, National Disability Authority
4:05pm Questions and answers
4:35pm Closing remarks Dr Gerald Craddock, Chief Officer, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design
4:45pm End

Watch the presentations from this conference

  1. Session 1: “Making public services accessible”

  2. Session 2: “Employing people with disabilities”

Page last updated: 10/03/2012