Governance
Accessibility
Public sector bodies in Ireland must meet the EU Web Accessibility Directive (S.I. 358/2020), which references EN 301 549. This build targets WCAG 2.2 Level AA as a design constraint, not a retrofit.
Designed-in commitments
- One H1 per page and a correct heading order — the current homepage carries two H1 elements.
- Alt text is a required CMS field for content images; the Stage 0 crawl logged 272 images without alt text.
- Visible 3px focus indicators on every interactive element, meeting WCAG 2.2 focus appearance.
- Skip-to-content link as the first focusable element on every page.
- Filters, search and navigation fully keyboard operable, with results announced via a live region.
- Text contrast verified against AA thresholds across the palette, including the bronze accent on dark surfaces.
- No content conveyed by colour alone; no motion that cannot be reduced by prefers-reduced-motion.
- Tables carry captions and scope attributes; forms use programmatically associated labels.
- Target size, dragging alternatives and consistent help — the WCAG 2.2 additions — are checked at component level.
How this will be tested
- Automated axe-core checks in CI, blocking merge on new violations.
- Manual keyboard and screen reader passes (NVDA and VoiceOver) per template.
- Independent accessibility audit before launch, with remediation log.
- Documented statement published with a named contact and feedback route.
ProvenanceFigures cited above (two H1 elements on the homepage, 272 images without alt text) come from the Stage 0 crawl of 679 live URLs recorded in docs/migration/content-inventory.csv. No accessibility conformance is claimed for this prototype until independent audit.