Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is an extraordinary response from the Minister. The Cabinet, according to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, had a long discussion on medical cards - as did all of the Members' parliamentary parties. Some 16,000 discretionary medical cards were cut from January 2013 to April 2014. That is a cull in any language. Those are discretionary cards taken from people in the case I described, taken from children with disabilities or families coping with serious illnesses and being asked to go through the rigamarole. Again, the Minister avoided the direct question I put to him. He has answered the other question because I judge from his attitude that he may be the block to some sort of justifiable resolution to this issue. Does he have confidence in the Minister, Deputy James Reilly's ability to continue as Minister for Health? A straight "Yes" or "No" answer will suffice; there is no need for a soliloquy.

See this speech in context