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20.09.05 
CONFIGURE LAUNCHED IN IRELAND

Configure, the UK’s largest commercial disability access consultancy, is to launch its products and services into Ireland.

Over the coming months, Configure Ireland, which has opened an office in Dublin, will be launching various Configure products and services to Irish private and public sectors, including disability access audits, a range of over 200 auxiliary aids, building adjustments and a series of staff disability equality training programmes.

Rose Kervick, the newly appointed managing director, said: “ Providing equal access to buildings, products and services to all people in Ireland is not only fair it also makes good business sense. One-in-ten people in Ireland have a disability, representing a large proportion of the spending power in the economy. If they can’t get access the services or the buildings, or buy the goods, they can’t spend their money!”

The regulations in Ireland are very different to those in the UK. There is not an Act as far reaching at the Disability Discrimination Act but the Irish government is in the process of ensuring all public services and buildings are accessible. The recently enacted Disability Act 2005 requires thousands of state buildings throughout Ireland to be audited for their accessibility for people with disabilities. The related Outline Sectoral Plans, from the Department of the Environment, also commit to train staff in disability awareness issues, designate disability liaison officers and revise Building Regulations.

Configure is the only company that can provide a fully integrated solution for disability access, both for the public and private sector, in Ireland. Rose Kervick continued: “We can also provide disability equality training so that staff are as accessible as the buildings and products.”

Last year in the UK, Configure conducted over 1,500 access audits, delivered disability equality training to over 65,000 people, and implemented access adjustments on over 1,000 sites.