Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. I will respond to the point, which was made very clearly and especially in relation to discretionary medical cards. There are currently some 180,000 discretionary medical cards, which take into full account the difficult circumstances in the case of applicants who may be in excess of the income guidelines.

They exercise discretion and will grant a medical card, for example, to patients with significant medical expenses who do not satisfy the means test. Emergency medical cards are issued to patients who are terminally ill. I know there are times when somebody can fall just outside the threshold, which can be very difficult. These are the people who come to our constituency offices looking for supports. It can be especially difficult at times for people who have cancer but do not have a terminal diagnosis.

I am glad this review is under way. Everybody will welcome it because when people are ill they should not need to worry about the cost of medical supports.