asked the Minister for Health whether he will consider, in the interests of prevention or reduction of blindness in this country, the establishment of a national register of the blind.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Register of Blind.
5.
Some consideration has been given by my Department to the establishment of a national register of the blind. While no final decision has yet been taken, it is not clear from the preliminary examination of the matter that the benefits to be derived from the establishment of such a register would justify the allocation to it of the financial and staff resources which would be required.
Would the Minister indicate how extensive was what he described as "some consideration"? How extensively has the matter been considered?
We are looking into it. The object would be to identify the prevalence and incidence of blindness and its various causes, but we have other means of doing that and I do not think it will be necessary to have a register from the social welfare point of view—incidentally that would be a matter for the Minister for Social Welfare—to ensure that everybody who should get a blind allowance is, in fact, getting it. I cannot see the necessity for that. The only other reason would be that having such a register might make is possible to warn people of some of the avoidable causes of blindness.
The Minister will appreciate the object of my question is to suggest that in the interests of the eradication or prevention of blindness such a register might be significant because it might help to isolate the causes of blindness
That is why we are looking into it.