Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Department issues general guidelines to a doctor in respect of invalidity and disabilities. They are all very subtle, including carer's allowance and so on. They get those and when they are in a busy clinic, someone comes in looking for a certificate and they have to fill out the form and that is fine. In a lot of cases, it is expecting a lot for someone to come back and check which scheme they are on. It is a case of realising you are looking at disability now, which is subtly different from invalidity and so on and that you had better get out the book again while the person is waiting there and with a queue out the door. We know that GP clinics are absolutely inundated with appointments and the clearer we can make what we are looking for on the form, the better. It would be a big help if, on the medical certificate, there was half a page outlining the purpose and the measure of the scheme.