Dr. Cara McDonagh:

There is no doubt it would have been difficult to put in place an interim scheme rapidly but in reality 16 months went by and, as far as I could see, nothing or very little happened. It could have been possible. We certainly would have been willing to work on it. There was a period of time when no clinics were happening due to Covid. We could have been working on it then. From the time of the Supreme Court ruling we could not participate in clinics. Then there was another lockdown. We could have devoted all of that time to it. We could have met twice a month when normally we would have been doing clinics. There certainly could have been progress.

The WHO does not look at disability now in terms of pathology. It looks at it in terms of function. I have always said that we need to move towards a less medicalised system and more towards how the person is functioning. We need to look at a graded system of supports. Some people need big adaptations or a special vehicle in which a wheelchair can be placed as they will not drive themselves. Other people just need a specialised seat or a swivel seat. It does not have to mean a big benefit to everybody who qualifies. It would be much better to have a graded system. People would be happy with that by and large. It would have been possible. It would been challenging but it would have been possible. If we had seen motivation and the will to start to work on it we definitely would have stayed in post.