Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I have no problem with the staff. As the Chairman has said, they are courteous and helpful in so far as they can be. Any time I have been in contact with Mr. Hennessy, either in his briefings here, over the telephone or whatever, he has been helpful. However, we have heard from him now exactly what we heard about the discretionary medical card issue for two years - a refusal to accept that there is a problem.

My colleagues and every other Member of the Oireachtas know there is a serious problem with medical cards. I have many questions but I will just ask one. Mr. Hennessy referred to emergency cards. While emergency cards can be issued within 24 hours, the applicant must have a medical certificate stating that he or she is terminally ill. There are difficulties in obtaining such a certificate but if the family is prepared to request one and the GP is prepared to issue it, there is not a problem in obtaining a card within 24 hours. If an individual has a serious medical issue, however, his or her application goes into a black hole and, once it gets into a queue for assessment by a medical practitioner, it will not emerge from that hole for at least a month. I am aware of one case in which the applicant waited from 19 February to the end of June. I ask that the situation be investigated.