Institutional Website for a Regional Agricultural Chamber: Dublin 2026

The verdict in three sentences

Five regional websites contradicting each other on fees, course dates and contacts are expensive for a regional agricultural body: wasted calls, lost bookings and a weaker public-service image. The right project is a single portal built around what farmers need (advice, training, schemes, regulatory news), compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA under the EU Web Accessibility Directive and hosted on EU infrastructure. At Kolonell, this type of site falls under our institutional offer, quoted on request, with a realistic timeline of 16 to 20 weeks.

Start from what 32,000 farms actually do

The head of communications of a 450-staff organisation in Dublin, working alongside the model set by Teagasc's advisory and education services, inherits a scattered estate: one national site, four regional sites and dozens of PDF brochures. A dairy farmer in Cork is not looking for "our governance structure": he wants help with his Basic Income Support for Sustainability application, a Green Cert course near home, or advice on nitrates derogation.

Navigation is built by sector (dairy, beef, sheep, tillage, horticulture, organic) and by region, with simple geolocation to the nearest office.

The 300-service catalogue and bookings

The core of the project is a structured catalogue: each service has an ID, a sector, a duration, a farmer fee, any funding route (scheme support, grant aid) and a request form. Courses use the same model, with sessions, venues, remaining places and certificates. Staff update one database instead of five.

Online booking must work on a mid-range smartphone on weak rural 4G: lightweight pages, short forms, autosave, SMS confirmation.

Accessibility, data hosting and public procurement

As a public sector body, the organisation must meet the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020 and publish an accessibility statement. Hosting farmer data within the EU, with a clear data processing agreement, is the norm.

As a 2026 order of magnitude, contracts of this kind in Ireland are awarded between 70,000 and 160,000 EUR excluding VAT, depending on scope (content migration, connectors, support). Kolonell responds on quotation: the amount depends on the content volume to migrate, links with the course management tool and CRM, hosting level and contributor training. Languages are set in the quote.

A 16 to 20 week plan

A realistic schedule: 3 weeks of scoping and workshops with the 4 regions, 3 weeks of architecture and prototypes tested with 10 farmers, 4 weeks of accessible design, 6 to 8 weeks of build and migration of the 300 services, 2 weeks of accessibility testing and training for 40 contributors. The five legacy domains are redirected page by page to keep search rankings and printed links working.

Mini case study

Ciarán, head of communications, costs the current fragmentation. The 6,500 yearly course bookings are entered manually from paper forms and emails at 12 minutes each, 1,300 staff hours per year. With online booking covering 70 % of cases, data entry drops to 390 hours, freeing 910 hours. At a loaded cost of 45 EUR per hour, the saving reaches 40,950 EUR a year, before counting fewer scheme-related calls. Over five years, this line alone repays a large share of the investment.

FAQ

Should we keep one site per region?

No. A single portal with regional pages and an office finder serves farmers better and cuts maintenance by a factor of five. Old addresses are redirected one by one.

Is WCAG compliance really mandatory?

Yes, public sector bodies in Ireland fall under the 2020 Regulations, and the National Disability Authority monitors compliance. An accessibility statement must be published and reviewed every year.

How do we manage 300 services?

In one database with standardised fields (sector, duration, fee, funding). Each region's staff update their own entries, and a central approval step prevents duplicates.

Can Kolonell respond to a public tender?

Yes. We provide a technical proposal, schedule, accessibility methodology and references. The amount is quoted against the tender specification, never from a standard price list.

How long until launch?

Allow 16 to 20 weeks after contract award, excluding the tender period. A phased launch, starting with the course catalogue, reduces risk ahead of the scheme application season.

Let's scope your project. We scope the merger of your 5 sites, the 300-service catalogue and a timeline that fits the scheme calendar. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.