Government urged to develop strategy for visually impaired

The Government was accused today of doing nothing to tackle incidences of blindness despite predictions that cases will soar 170% over the next 25 years.

Campaigners supporting the visually impaired said a national vision strategy has still not been rolled out – seven years after the state signed up to a global initiative pledging to eliminate the causes of avoidable blindness.

At the launch of the first ever vision awareness week the Vision Impaired Service Providers Alliance (Vispa) said there were still no official figures for the number of blind in Ireland.

Avril Daly, Vispa chair, made an urgent plea to Health Minister Mary Harney to take action.

“The World Health Assembly passed the Vision 2020 resolution in May 2003 with the objective of eliminating the main causes of avoidable blindness by the year 2020,” Ms Daly said.

“Seven years later we still don’t have any figures for the amount of people affected by sight loss in this country or the amount of money that is, or should, be spent on restorations of sight, blindness prevention and support strategies.

“Many of these eye conditions are degenerative and preventable, so we are calling on Minister Harney to act without further delay and deliver on a Vision Strategy for this country.”

Fine Gael Health Spokesman James Reilly said the level of interest the Government was taking in sight loss and vision impairment was a disgrace.

“We have the ludicrous situation of the Central Statistics Office collecting unusable information in this area.

“All we know is the total number of people in this country who may be deaf or blind but we don’t know which is which,” he said.

Vispa Vision Week with Specsavers is a joint initiative by the support group’s four member organisations – National Council for the Blind of Ireland, Irish Guidedogs, St Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Impaired and Fighting Blindness.

Mark Cahill, Consultant Opthalmologist at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and the Beacon Clinic, Sandyford, encouraged people to book regular eye tests.

“The three main causes of reduced vision in healthy Irish people are age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataract,” he said.

“An eye examination every two years will increase the likelihood of detecting and treating these diseases early, and thereby reduce the chance of an affected person developing blindness.”

A number of activities are taking place throughout the week including the first time visit to Ireland of Sight Village, Europe’s largest exhibition of assistive technology and vision aids.

Sight Village is a free exhibition and will be in the Oriel Hotel, Cork on Tuesday and Wednesday and the Burlington Hotel, Dublin on Friday and Saturday.

St Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Impaired will open their first outreach centre in Cork, providing greater access to services for children with a visual impairment living in the south of the country.

St Joseph’s, the only educational facility for children with a visual impairment in the country will also host 15 children from a local national school into their own primary school to spend three days in class with pupils.