Covid-19 survivor Niall Murphy has said the coronavirus lockdown should have been put in place sooner.
The prominent Belfast solicitor was speaking after being released from hospital earlier this week.
The 43-year-old left Antrim Area Hospital on Monday after spending almost a month there, including 16 days in an induced coma.
During his treatment the father-of-three was also placed on a ventilator.
A partner at KRW Law, Mr Murphy has been involved in several high profile court cases in recent years and is a familiar figure on the legal circuit.
He is also well known in GAA circles and is vice-chairman of Naomh Éanna GAA club in Glengormley and chairman of Club Aontroma.
The solicitor believes he may have contracted the virus while travelling abroad last month March.
Mr Murphy, who is recuperating at home with his wife Marie and children, said there should have been a quicker response to the virus.
“The lockdown should have happened sooner,” he said.
“We are an island at the end of the day, we are best placed to enforce things like a lockdown.
“We find ourselves where we are so we just need to continue as we are going.”
The high-flying solicitor hopes society will learn lessons from the current health crisis.
“I just hope there's a societal re-evaluation of everything, the rat race doesn't mean anything,” he said.
“What's important is your health and well-being.”
He said how NHS staff, who were forced to strike for a pay rise earlier this year, are treated needs to be reassessed.
“Why should a hedge fund a hedge fund manager get paid millions and a nurse have to stand in the darkness and the wet to protest to keep her patients safe,” he said.
“There's so much in society that needs to be reimagined and we all know we are enduring something that is a once in a century, lifetime, experience and the money was found almost immediately so we know that austerity is a fraud and we now know there are reserves that can be used to get society through this.
“I genuinely believe there should be a re-evaluation of how we conduct ourselves as a society and the NHS should be at the centre of that reimagination,” he told the BBC.
He revealed that after being collected from hospital by his wife and children he visited his mother.
“It was difficult too because I am going to be ultra cautious,” he said.
“I would encourage anybody, friends or anybody listening that you have to abide by these guidelines about social distancing because because this is a very aggressive strain of virus.
“So not being able to walk up and hug my mother as one naturally would in the circumstances was difficult.
“She's sensible too and she was just delighted to see me and it was quiet emotional to be honest with you.”
