Ms Sarah Cooney:

Previously, when looking at any of these complaints, we would have been dealing directly with the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal. We would have had a lot of engagement with the chair of that board, who had mirrored our concerns around the restrictive nature of the eligibility criteria. I do not want to speak for the board members but I think they were frustrated that they had to work within the confines of the legislation and, as I understand it, they had communicated that to the Department of Finance and others. We would have had a constructive relationship with the board in the sense that we both understood that it was the restrictive nature of the eligibility criteria that was hampering this. The board and others can speak for themselves. There are many other countries and jurisdictions that would have different systems in place and different assessments of mobility. They were the experts in the field.