Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Deputy raises a valid question around people having access to medical cards and doctor visit only cards. Currently 50% of people living in the State have either a medical card or a GP visit only card. It is approximately 50% and I remember those figures from the Bill in relation to private care that we do every year. As to the Deputy's specific question, it is my understanding that those threshold rates have not been increased since 2009. I stand open to correction on that but I do believe it was 2009. Officials in the Department will carry out a strategic review during 2024 of eligibility for health services. The overall objectives of the review are twofold, namely, to review the existing framework to clearly assess what is working well and to inform policy options and proposals to enhance eligibility and access to services based on robust evidence. This is really welcome.

The Deputy will be aware that in my role, I put in place the strategic workforce advisory group trying to support more carers to come into the role of caring. We have an ageing population and one of the recommendations was around the people who might agree to do X number of hours caring but they would not lose their social welfare supports such as a medical card. If people had the opportunity to work 12, 14 or 16 hours a week potentially - for example the majority of people who do this work are female when the kids are in school - and if they did not lose their social welfare entitlements we believe this would be an open door to push to get more people caring. We are actually exploring this with the Department of Social Protection.