If people cannot access online services due to accessibility issues, then it would be fairly safe to say that egovernment is not succeeding – it’s probably failing.
Richard Hearne has done a fascinating analysis of over 40 Irish government and political party websites with a view to assessing their accessibility and the results are quite worrying:
Government Department sites
25% Failed the minimum standard for accessibility 75% Failed both minimum accessibility and basic coding standards
Public body sites
33% Failed the minimum standard for accessibility 100% Failed both minimum accessibility and basic coding standards
Political Party sites
57% Failed the minimum standard for accessibility 100% Failed both minimum accessibility and basic coding standards
Four Government Departments passed with flying colours:
Dept of Arts, Sports and Tourism
Dept Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Dept of Finance
Dept of Social and Family Affairs
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