Now, the parts of the jig-saw began to fit together. Martin Donoghue and Patrick Grogan had become good friends. Martin was a member of the Chip-Up Club in London, a disabled persons club, and he wrote the correspondence page in their bi-monthly magazine. As a result of this he was requested to write a monthly article for a similar magazine in Texas, called the Buckboard Review. This magazine had a worldwide circulation and was aimed a physically disabled people, bringing news of the latest medical discoveries, new appliances, stories of triumph over disabilities etc., Martin learned how other countries coped with the problems of the disabled and how far behind Ireland was lagging in this field.

Irish daily newspapers gave Martin’s achievements considerable cover and one such article attracted the attention of Ann Moroney, who wrote to him. They discovered they had much in common, began to correspond regularly and arranged to meet.

By this time Martin had passed his driving test (this was in the late fifties and only physically disabled people or persons driving public service vehicles had to take a test). Ann and Martin were married at Knock Shrine on Easter Monday 1964. Because it was the first wedding of its kind in Ireland, it received much publicity in the newspapers and was featured in the news programmes on radio and television. They were guests on the Late Late Show the following Saturday night.

Prior to this, Patrick Grogan and Martin Donoghue had left their respective jobs to work for an organisation catering for physically disabled persons and now Ann Donoghue became involved in the work. They had discussions with many disabled people living in various parts of Ireland, and it became evident that there was a great need for an organisation which would be controlled by physically disabled people. What had surprised all three was that nobody had made an effort to start such an organisation. When they put this to some people who were high up in charitable organisations they were told that such an organisation would not work, because it would be necessary to have the brains and brawn of able-bodied people. This was regarded by all three as an insult to disabled people everywhere, and it made it abundantly clear why disabled people were not promoted to high office in their own associations.