When the bell goes for a vote in Leinster House, TDs and Senators have 10 minutes to get to the chamber from their offices before the doors are locked.
This is a greater challenge for Senator Nikki Bradley than for most. The Donegal woman, a cancer survivor who had partial-leg-amputation surgery in 2022, uses a prosthetic and says it takes time to get to the Seanad chamber.
“Leinster House is huge. And I walk everywhere with one crutch,” she says.
Bradley says the Oireachtas authorities have been “been absolutely incredible” since her appointment to the Upper House last year. “They changed out seats, they made a little footstool for me in the Seanad,” she adds.
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She has learned to ask when she is in the chamber, however, if a second vote is likely to be called in the following half hour.
“What was happening was I would go the whole way back to my office and I would literally get to the door and the bell would go again. So I’d have to walk the whole way back.”
Bradley says the combination of the long drive to Dublin from Donegal and moving around Leinster House with her current prosthetic, which does not bend at the knee, has taken its toll.
The Milford native has suffered chronic nerve pain since she had a tumour removed in 2004. Then there were two right-hip replacements and a metal plate, from hip to knee, being inserted after she broke her femur, all followed by a rotationplasty.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to the pain,” Bradley says. “You can wake up one morning and be completely fine and wake up the next morning and be in bits.”
The 39-year-old Taoiseach’s nominee, who hopes to one day be elected as a Fine Gael TD for Donegal, had to work from home for a number of weeks because of pain related to her prosthetic.
She has an additional problem now because of the weeks spent putting all her weight through her good leg.
“I’ve now actually acquired another injury on my left foot. So I’ve no legs left to walk on,” she says, adding that she is using two crutches for the moment to deal with the issue.
A disability campaigner, Bradley has climbed mountains and crossed glaciers as a prosthetic user. But her most recent adventure was last summer when she climbed Mount Errigal with the prosthetic that does not bend at the knee.
One of 5,000 people in Ireland with an amputation or limb deformity, Bradley says: “my specialists in the UK have said the prosthetic I have now is not fit for purpose.
“I’m actually going to have to go [to the Netherlands] to get a new one made and that’s going to cost me an absolute fortune,” she says. “And that’s not where we want to be in Ireland. I shouldn’t have to leave the country to do that.”
The most basic prosthetic will cost her €7,000. Her current one cost €15,000, which she did not have to pay, but some are priced at up to €30,000 and Bradley is not covered for prosthetic treatment in the Netherlands.
Bradley’s cancer is a rare form and probably fewer than five people in Ireland have had the same amputation she did.
“It means I’ve had to go to the UK because they’re more experienced ... the resources in Ireland are just not there because there aren’t enough people dealing with it.
“We’ve certainly come a long way since I was diagnosed. We’re in a much better place, but there’s still a lot that could be done.”
Bradley is working with the Leinster House officials, who have carried out an accessibility audit. She plans to have Paralympians and other disability groups walk around the building to point out areas that could be improved.
She says as a disability advocate “you feel like you’re shouting as loud as you can, but hardly anybody can hear you”.
“But as a Senator, I can make positive change for people on a national level. It’s not just people living with disabilities, it’s their entire circle.
“I’m still very much finding my feet. I have a lot but I’ve been using my time as wisely as possible meeting as many different groups as I can.”
