Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

These things are important. The expert group did not say that the health card should be granted on the basis of the clinician's opinion. In any State compensation scheme established, the House would never have agreed that compensation could be awarded on the basis of a clinician's view. This is not about not trusting people. Doctors can be wrong. Nobody would ever suggest that we establish a compensation scheme based on the opinion of the treating clinician.

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