asked the Minister for Health whether he has received correspondence from the Irish Faculty of Ophthalmology on the subject of the introduction of a revised blind registration form on several occasions over the past eighteen months; whether any or all of this correspondence was acknowledged by him; what his opinion is in regard to the proposed new blind registration form; whether he has decided against the introduction of such new form; if so, for what reasons; and what interested bodies he has consulted on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Blind Registration Form.
10.
On 24th November, 1959, the body styling itself the Irish Faculty of Ophthalmology, a company registered under the Companies Acts which received its certificate to commence business on 3rd March, 1959, wrote to me suggesting a revision of the form which is used for the medical certification of blindness for the purposes of determining elegibility for blind pensions. The letter stated that "the present form, although of course adequate for certification of blindness, is not sufficiently detailed to allow statistics to be produced showing direct and indirect causes of blindness among our blind population." It went on to state that the proposed form would be "sufficiently scientifically accurate... to tell us after a few years' use what our percentage of incidence of blindness is." The latter also recommended the minimum qualifications which, in the opinion of the body mentioned, would be appropriate for certifiers.
The letter was acknowledged.
At about the time the letter was received, the body concerned sought to impose itself on me as a body to be consulted in regard to appointment of certain members of Bórd na Radharcmhastóirí and, in effect, instituted a boycott in an attempt to deprive me of the discretion vested in me by subsection (3) of Section 9 of the Opticians Act, 1956. In view of this conduct on the part of this self-appointed body, of whose existence, indeed, I was up to that time unaware, I decided that, despite its grandiose title, I was fully justified in refusing to co-operate with it to the communications which, incidentally, consisted merely of reminders.
I am satisfied that the existing system of certification is adequate for the purpose for which it is required and I am not satisfied that the revised form, which would apply to only a proportion of all the cases of blindness which arise, would add materially to our knowledge of either the incidence of blindness or its underlying causes. Accordingly, I do not propose to arrange for the introduction of this certificate for the limited class concerned, and in arriving at this decision I am fortified by views expressed by my competent professional advisers when this question was previously under consideration in another context.
You have taken on another war.
No, but I am not going to be impressed by a catchpenny title.