The European Accessibility Act has been in effect since June 2025. That means if your website sells products or services to the public, you're supposed to be accessible. Not "we'll get to it eventually" accessible. Actually accessible.
So I thought - let's see how Ireland's doing.
I picked 10 well-known Irish businesses across different industries and ran their homepages through a quick accessibility audit. I checked for the basics: alt text on images, heading structure, semantic HTML, ARIA attributes, form labels, skip navigation links, and whether the site uses <nav> and <main> elements properly.
This isn't a full WCAG 2.1 AA audit (we do those too, by the way). Think of it as a first-date impression - and some of these sites showed up in tracksuit bottoms.
If you want the quick version of what accessibility even means, I wrote Web Accessibility in 3 Bullets a while back. And if you're wondering about the legal side, check out our piece on accessibility regulation and what it means for your business.
Now, let's rank some websites.
The Rankings
Rank Business Industry Score /10 1 O'Neills Sportswear 7/10 2 Butlers Chocolates Retail / Chocolate 6.5/10 3 The Merrion Hotel Luxury Hotel 6/10 4 Insomnia Coffee Coffee Chain 5.5/10 5 Avoca Retail / Lifestyle 5/10 6 Grafton Barbers Barber / Grooming 4.5/10 7 BD Gyms (Ben Dunne) Fitness 4/10 8 Supermac's Fast Food 3.5/10 9 Boojum Fast Casual / Burritos 3/10 10 Camile Thai Takeaway 2.5/10The Reviews
1. O'Neills (oneills.com) - 7/10 🥇
O'Neills came out on top, and honestly? Fair play to them. They've got 17 skip-link references (somebody actually thought about keyboard users!), solid ARIA attributes (80 instances), a proper <main> element, <nav> elements, and a lang attribute. The images are a mixed bag - 6 out of 10 have empty alt text - but the structural foundation is strong. The GAA jersey crowd can navigate this one just fine.
2. Butlers Chocolates (butlerschocolates.com) - 6.5/10 🍫
Butlers brought a surprisingly solid effort. Five <nav> elements, two <main> landmarks, over 100 ARIA attributes, and actual form labels. Skip links are present. The issue? Every single image is missing its alt attribute in the HTML source - 34 images, 34 missing alts. That's a lot of chocolate you can't see if you're using a screen reader. Like being in a Butlers shop with your eyes closed... actually, that might still work, the smell is incredible.
3. The Merrion Hotel (merrionhotel.com) - 6/10 🏨
For a five-star hotel, this is... a solid three-star accessibility effort. They've got the basics: <nav>, <main>, proper heading hierarchy, lang attribute, and 22 ARIA attributes. Form labels exist. But no skip navigation link, and a couple of images are missing alt text entirely. For a hotel that charges €500+ a night, you'd expect the digital experience to be as polished as the lobby. It's close, but not quite there.
4. Insomnia Coffee (insomnia.ie) - 5.5/10 ☕
Insomnia's site is awake enough to have a <nav> element, a proper H1, lang attribute, and 37 ARIA attributes. Not bad for a coffee chain. But there's no <main> element, zero form labels (have fun finding that store locator with a screen reader), and no skip navigation. It's like a flat white - decent, but missing that extra shot.
5. Avoca (avoca.com) - 5/10 🧶
Avoca's site is gorgeous. It's also a bit of an accessibility mess. 128 images on the homepage (yes, really), with 11 either empty or missing alt text entirely. Only 8 ARIA attributes for a page that complex? That's like putting up Christmas decorations and forgetting to plug in the lights. They've got skip links and a <main> element, which saves them from a lower score, but with only 2 form labels across the whole page, good luck subscribing to that newsletter if you're not using a mouse.
6. Grafton Barbers (graftonbarbers.com) - 4.5/10 💈
Here's a fun stat: 28 images, 19 of which have empty alt text and 2 more are missing alt entirely. That's a 75% alt-text failure rate. The site does have a <main> element, <nav>, and 6 form labels, which shows some effort. But no skip navigation link, and the ARIA implementation is minimal. The fade is sharp, but the accessibility is blunt.
7. BD Gyms / Ben Dunne Gyms (bdgyms.com) - 4/10 🏋️
BD Gyms has... 6 H1 tags. Six! On one page! That's not heading structure, that's heading chaos. It's like every section decided it was the most important one and they all started shouting. They've got 60 ARIA attributes and 16 <nav> elements (also wild), but no <main> element, half the images have empty alts, and there's only 1 form label. The site tries hard but in all the wrong places - a bit like someone doing bicep curls every day and skipping leg day.
8. Supermac's (supermacs.ie) - 3.5/10 🍔
Look, Supermac's is a national treasure. Their website, however, is using an XHTML 1.0 Transitional doctype - a relic from the mid-2000s. There's 1 lonely ARIA attribute on the entire page. No <nav>, no <main>, no skip link, no form labels. Two images are missing alt text. The heading structure is basic at best. Pat McDonagh, I love your snack boxes, but this website needs a refurb more than a 2am SuperMac's after a night out needs a mop.
9. Boojum (boojummex.com) - 3/10 🌯
No H1 tag. No ARIA attributes at all - zero. No <main> element. No form labels. No skip navigation. Three images missing alt text. The nav element exists, and there are H2s, but that's about it. For a brand that absolutely nails its social media presence, the website feels like it was wrapped in foil and forgotten at the bottom of the bag. Bold flavours, bland accessibility.
10. Camile Thai (camile.ie) - 2.5/10 🥡
Bottom of the pile, and it's not even close. No H1 tag. No <nav> element. No form labels. No skip link. Zero ARIA attributes (well, 5, but for a whole page that's basically nothing). Six out of 10 images have missing alt text entirely. The page title is just "Home IE" - not even the business name. It's a JavaScript-heavy single-page app that gives screen readers almost nothing to work with. If this were a Thai dish, it'd be plain rice with no sauce.
The Takeaways (Pun Intended)
The good news: Some Irish businesses are genuinely trying. O'Neills, Butlers, and The Merrion have real foundations to build on.
The bad news: Not a single site scored above 7 out of 10 on basic accessibility. And these are some of Ireland's most recognisable brands.
The alarming news: The European Accessibility Act isn't a suggestion. It's law. Since June 2025, businesses providing products and services digitally are expected to meet accessibility standards. If your website can't be used by someone with a disability, you're not just being inconsiderate - you're potentially non-compliant.
Here's what kept coming up across almost every site:
- Missing or empty alt text on images - the single most common issue. If a screen reader hits your hero image and announces "image" with no context, you've already lost a customer.
- No skip navigation - most sites force keyboard users to tab through the entire nav before reaching content.
- Missing <main> landmarks - screen readers use these to jump straight to content. Without them, it's like being dropped into a building with no signs.
- Form labels nowhere to be found - if I can't label your inputs, I can't fill in your contact form. Simple as.
Want to Know Where Your Site Stands?
If reading this made you a little nervous about your own website - good. That's the point.
We built a free accessibility audit tool that gives you a quick snapshot of where your site is at. No sign-up, no sales pitch. Just honest results.
And if you want the full picture - a proper WCAG 2.1 AA review with specific recommendations - get in touch. We'll tell you exactly what needs fixing, in plain English (or Irish, or Polish - we're flexible like that).
The European Accessibility Act is here. Your competitors might not have caught up yet. That's your window.
Łukasz Mądrzak is the founder of RedStudio, a web design and accessibility consultancy based in Ireland. He spends an unreasonable amount of time inspecting other people's HTML and has strong opinions about alt text.