Accessibility statutory obligations and complaints

Our obligations under the Disability Act 2005

The Disability Act 2005 sets out the areas where Fáilte Ireland must ensure accessibility. These are: 

• Access to our buildings (Section 25 of the Disability Act 2005): Our public buildings must be accessible to people with disabilities. 
• Access to our services (Section 26): People with disabilities must be able to access services provided by Fáilte Ireland. 
• Services supplied to Fáilte Ireland (Section 27): Services that third parties supply to Fáilte Ireland must also meet accessibility requirements. 
• Access to information (Section 28): Information provided by Fáilte Ireland must be accessible to people with disabilities. 
• Access to heritage sites (Section 29): Heritage sites, heritage buildings, and protected structures owned, managed, or controlled by Fáilte Ireland must be accessible. This requirement won’t apply if making the site accessible would impact the conservation. 

If you need help accessing any of our services, our Access Officer can arrange assistance for you. Contact us using the details below.

Making a complaint 

If you believe Fáilte Ireland has not met its obligations under Sections 25 to 29 of the Disability Act 2005, you can make a complaint. 

You can make a complaint yourself, or through someone acting on your behalf, such as a spouse/partner, parent or relative, guardian or a person acting in loco parentis to that person, legal representative, or personal advocate or by another person advocating on behalf of that person with their consent. 

Under Section 38, formal complaints must legally be submitted in writing. You can contact Fáilte Ireland: 

Online: submit your complaint  

Email: Send an email to the Customer support team    

Post: Inquiry Officer, Fáilte Ireland, 88–95 Amiens Street, Dublin 1, D01 WR86, Ireland   

If you cannot make a complaint in writing, there are legal and practical mechanisms in place such as reasonable assistance and guidance, a call with the Access Officer, or someone can make a complaint on your behalf (once they have your consent). 

What to include in your complaint 

When making a complaint, it helps to include the information listed in the checklist below. This will allow the Inquiry Officer to investigate your complaint as efficiently as possible.  

Your complaint should include: 

1. Your name, address, contact telephone number, and email address. If you are filing on behalf of someone else, include their details and state your relationship to them (e.g., guardian, advocate, family member) and include their consent. 
2. Name of the building, service, information or heritage site you were looking to access. 
3. Whether you were looking for access to a building, a service, information, or a heritage site. 
4. The date you tried to access the building, service, information, or heritage site. 
5. A description of the difficulty you experienced. 
6. Details of any previous contact you have had with Fáilte Ireland about this matter. 
7. If you require the Fáilte Ireland to communicate with you in an accessible format, specify your needs. 

What happens after you submit your complaint 

• We will acknowledge your complaint promptly. We will record your complaint and contact you to confirm we have received it. You should hear from us within five working days of us receiving your complaint. 
• We will check your complaint. We will review your complaint to confirm it relates to an alleged failure by Fáilte Ireland to comply with Sections 25 to 29 of the Disability Act 2005. 
• We will start the investigation. If your complaint is valid, the Inquiry Officer will begin an investigation. The Inquiry Officer carries out investigations in private, under Section 39 of the Disability Act 2005. 

What the Inquiry Officer will do 

Our Inquiry Officer is Deirdre Kerins. During the investigation, the Inquiry Officer will: 

• discuss your complaint with the relevant Fáilte Ireland staff. 
• collect and review any records related to your complaint. 
• compile a report on your complaint.
• share a copy of the report with the relevant manager for their response.

If the report contains a finding or criticism relating to a staff member, that staff member will be given the opportunity to respond before the report is finalised. 

What the report will include 

When the investigation is complete, the Inquiry Officer will send you a copy of the report. A copy will also be sent to Fáilte Ireland's Director of Corporate Affairs. We aim to respond within 20 working days. If the investigation is likely to take longer, the Inquiry Officer will let you know. The report will tell you: 

• what your complaint was about. 
• how it was investigated. 
• what was found. 
• whether your complaint was upheld, partially upheld, or not upheld. 
• what steps Fáilte Ireland will take, where a failure has occurred. 

Once the complainant has been given the findings of the report and has been notified of the decision, the complaint is closed. 

If your complaint is not accepted 

If your complaint does not relate to the matters covered by Sections 25 to 29 of the Disability Act 2005, the Inquiry Officer will let you know. You will receive an explanation and, if possible, suggestions for other ways to address your concern. 

If the Inquiry Officer considers your complaint to be frivolous or vexatious, you will be notified and given an opportunity to respond. 

If your complaint is rejected or not resolved 

You can ask the Ombudsman to become involved. The Ombudsman handles complaints that have not been resolved through our complaints procedure. 

Contact the Ombudsman 

• Write to: Office of the Ombudsman, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2 
• Phone: +353 1 639 5600 or lo-call: 1890 223030 
• Email the Obudsman 
• Visit Ombudsman Gov